Heading into Election Day (have you voted yet?), the deal flow has really picked up in the Northwest. Cleantech and energy were the big winners this week, followed by Web software and biomedical hardware.
—Xconomy broke the news of Seattle-based EnerG2, a startup out of the University of Washington, raising an $8.5 million Series A round led by Kirkland, WA-based OVP Venture Partners and Palo Alto, CA-based Firelake Capital Management. EnerG2 is an advanced materials company focused on energy storage technologies. We plan to bring you the full story when the parties agree to talk.
—Mercer Island, WA-based Napera Networks closed a $6 million round led by OVP Venture Partners, which had provided seed financing for the company as well. The terms of the deal had not been announced previously. Napera develops network-security technologies for businesses.
—Ascentium, a Bellevue, WA-based Web design and marketing firm, raised additional funds from WestRiver Capital, based in nearby Kirkland. The amount of the funding was not disclosed, but Ascentium said it’s continuing to invest in talented workers and business expansion worldwide.
—Kashless, the Seattle-based startup from ex-Imperium Renewables CEO Martin Tobias, raised a $5 million Series A round from RRE Ventures. Tobias hasn’t said much about what Kashless is doing, but it seems to involve recycling, reuse, and sharing online. He emphasized RRE’s forward thinking in cleantech-meets-software, and said we’re heading into a “nuclear winter” for funding.
—Not technically a Seattle deal, but Kissmetrics, a Web analytics startup founded by Neil Patel, raised $800,000 from Silicon Valley-based True Ventures and other investors. Patel, who’s based in Orange County, CA, is an investor in several Seattle-area companies and is on the board of BuddyTV, ICanHasCheezburger, CultureMob, LiquidPlanner, and Optify.
—Sonosite (NASDAQ: [[ticker:SONO]]), a Bothell, WA-based maker of portable ultrasound machines, bought back $60.3 million worth of convertible notes it owes investors, as Luke reported. The notes give investors the option of getting their returns through debt payments from the company, or by converting the notes into stock.
—NxtGen Emission Controls, a Burnaby, BC-based “syngas” company focused on reducing emissions and optimizing the burning of fuels, closed a $15.4 million Series B round led by the Altira Group. Other investors included Itochu, an unnamed Japanese auto maker, and returning investors Yaletown Venture Partners, GrowthWorks Capital, BC Advantage Funds, and Polygon Financial Investments.
—Seattle-based Second Avenue Partners participated in a $33 million Series B funding of Ice Energy, a Colorado-based cleantech company that helps manage air-conditioning electricity usage. Second Avenue was an original investor in the firm. The Series B round was led by Energy Capital Partners, based in Short Hills, NJ, and San Diego, CA.
—InEnTec, a waste-to-fuels company based in Bend, OR, received a $150 million equity commitment from Lakeside Energy and American Securities to build a waste gasification plant in Michigan, as Luke reported. InEnTec’s technology originally comes from MIT and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
—Luke also reported that Vancouver, BC-based Yaletown Venture Partners raised $65 million in the initial close of its second fund (which it says will grow to $100 million in the next 12 months). The money will be used for cleantech and info-tech investments in Canada and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
—Glassdoor, the Sausalito, CA-based online job site co-founded by Zillow CEO Rich Barton, raised $6.5 million in Series B funding from Sutter Hill Ventures and Benchmark Capital.
