#1: VC系列：Khosla Leads $38M Series C In Nordic Windpower （转帖) (735 reads) 作者: 安普若, 来自: 中国美国的飞机上时间: 2010-1-08 周五, 01:32 — 作者：安普若 在 海归主坛 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
Khosla Leads $38M Series C In Nordic Windpower
By Mara Lemos Stein
venture capital
1/6/2010 – Khosla Ventures increased its exposure to the wind sector by leading the $38 million, Series C round of financing in two-blade turbine manufacturer Nordic Windpower.
This is the second later-stage investment in wind energy companies by the Menlo Park, Calif.-based venture capital firm, which traditionally invests in earlier stage companies. Last month, Khosla invested in a $13.2 million round in Danotek Motion Technologies Inc., a maker of generators and components for wind turbines and motors for electric vehicles.
"We see really a tremendous opportunity to improve on what is a good basis [in wind energy technology]," said Jim Kim, a partner at Khosla Ventures, in an interview. Wind is already competitive with other sources of energy depending on the geography, a position that is improved when government incentives such as tax credits are taken into account, he said. "And that's using existing technology; but there's still so much further [to go] when you look at the new technology."
Nordic makes 1-megawatt, two-blade wind power turbines currently used in community wind developments. The lighter design helps to reduce load on the drive train and spread it before it reaches the gearbox, helping longevity and reducing the need for maintenance, the company says. The Nordic turbine is at least 10% cheaper to manufacture, transport, install and maintain, and although it produces less energy than conventional turbines. The company says the product is attractive to customers because of its lower costs.
"What attracted us is that, if you look at the levelized cost of electricity, wind is still very attractive, it's a very large market, and certain segments in the wind market such as community wind are very attractive," said Ravi Viswanathan, a general partner at venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates Inc. "If you couple the market potential -- especially in the case of Nordic -- with differentiated technology, all pointed to a very attractive investment," Viswanathan said in an interview.
Nordic is NEA's first investment in wind technology. Other investors in the Series C round of financing included Novus Energy Partners, a U.S./Europe-based investor in clean technology, along with existing investors London-based Impax Asset Management; investment management group I2BF Management; and Pulsar Energy Capital. The company has previously closed three funding rounds since 2007 from investors including Goldman Sachs International, Impax and NBT AS.
The round consisted of $30.1 million in new equity and the balance was a conversion of notes issued last year. Chief Executive Tom Carbone, speaking in an interview, declined to disclose how much money the firm has raised to date.
Nordic Windpower worked on its Series C for most of 2009, and the fact that it was selected in July for a conditional $16 million loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy helped it close the private funding round, said Carbone.
"The loan guarantee was definitely supportive of the fund-raise," said Carbone. "What it did do was, it put a stamp on the company...it says ‘we've analyzed the technology, the investment team, it's a robust business, it will be able to pay back this loan...' It was nice to have that validation."
Carbone said he expects the company to finalize negotiations of the terms of the loan and loan guarantee in the next month. The loans, to be provided by the Federal Financing Bank with the DOE as both the lender of record and the guarantor, will cover less than 80% of the cost of the expansion project of Nordic's Pocatello, Idaho, facility. Nordic is based in Berkeley, Calif.
