Angels flock to cleantech

Venture capitalists are pouring money into the cleantech industry, and in the Northwest, a group known as the Northwest Energy Angels is helping provide firm financial footing for clean energy companies in the region. The group announced this week that it has invested in more energy projects in the first six months of 2007 than it did in all of 2006. The investments totaled more than $200,000 for seven investment deals. 

The Northwest Energy Angels was founded in 2006 and has over 40 members including local business leaders, entrepreneurs and retired executives. Focusing on energy companies in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia, the group invested $368,000 in six projects in 2006. Companies receiving investments from the Northwest Energy Angels since its inception  include: ADI Thermal Power Corp., Delaware Power Systems Corp., Novinium, Inc., Propel Biofuels, Ridgeline Energy, LLC, and SyncWave Energy Inc.

The investment group was founded with help from the Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative, a joint effort to improve energy technology investment and innovation in the Pacific Northwest. The collaborative was born out of the Washington Technology Center’s Industry Initiative Program, and is an alliance of five Northwest states, two Canadian provinces, industry, educational institutions and nonprofits [see “Building the brand” SI, February 2006].