AAA January 2013 – Page 4

Silent Power quietly raises $8m

Hanwha Group, a top 10 South Korea-based industrial conglomerate, has led US-based energy storage provider Silent Power’s series B funding round with an $8m investment. The strategic partnership will bundle Hanwha SolarOne’s photo-voltaic (PV) panels with Silent Power’s distributed energy storage device, the OnDemand Energy Appliance. Charles Kim, president of Hanwha SolarOne, said: “Hanwha SolarOne… Continue reading Silent Power quietly raises $8m

Beta Renewables adds $115m

Denmark-based healthcare company Novozymes has invested €90m ($115m) for 10% of Beta Renewables, a joint venture between Italy-based packaging and chemicals company Gruppo Mossi & Ghisolfi and private equity firm TPG. Novozymes and Beta Renewables will offer customers looking to produce biofuels from agricultural residues, energy crops and other cellulosic feedstocks a combination of Novozymes’… Continue reading Beta Renewables adds $115m

GoPro home-run means early Steamboat close

Media group Disney is understood to have scaled back its financial commitment to its corporate venturing affiliate, Steamboat Ventures, after strong performance in its portfolio caused the fund to be closed relatively early. Disney is understood to be providing $42.5m to Steamboat’s fifth fund, instead of an expected $75m reported by news provider Fortune in… Continue reading GoPro home-run means early Steamboat close

Cummins backs up ReliOn

ReliOn, a US-based provider of fuel cells for back-up power and grid-support applications, has raised an undisclosed amount of corporate venturing funding from New York-listed industrial group Cummins. Gary Flood, chief executive at ReliOn, said: “Cummins is a global leader in power generation and, as such, will be an excellent partner to work with ReliOn… Continue reading Cummins backs up ReliOn

IDG steers cash to ParkMe

ParkMe, a US-based provider of database and analytics software for parking locations and availability, has raised an undisclosed amount in its series B round from a consortium including publisher International Data Group’s (IDG) local corporate venturing unit. Alongside IDG Ventures in the syndicate were private equity firm Angeleno Group, which led the round, and venture… Continue reading IDG steers cash to ParkMe

KnowRe turns to Softbank

KnowRe, a South Korea-based developer of an online adaptive learning service for mathematics, has raised $1.4m from SoftBank Ventures Korea, the local corporate venturing unit of Japan-based internet company Softbank. The portfolio company said it would be releasing its beta version by April after it won the grand prize of KrW100m ($100,000) at Global K-Startup,… Continue reading KnowRe turns to Softbank