Blog
LoanPal and AQUAOSO Join the Funding Bonanza
We might exceed $2 billion in funds raised for our cleantech companies this year. If so, this region would represent a significant fraction of all the money raised in cleantech deals in the US. That would undoubtedly raise eyebrows. The first quarter has been...
Take Advantage of Resources
With a strong start to the year, I want to update everyone on resources with which you can connect to advance your business. The best way to do this is to subscribe to our newsletter, follow us on social media and attend our events. We recognize building a cleantech...
Green Products Creating Disposal and Recycling Challenges
What is one of the leading threats to the spread of solar PV installations in the US? The lack of a good way to deal with old or broken panels from existing installations. Fifty thousand tons of these are piling up in warehouses in the absence of a better solution. ...
Energy Projects at D3
Last week The College of Engineering and Computer Science at Sacramento State held its annual event Discussion, Discovery, and Dissemination or D3. D3 highlights the collaborative work being done at the College. They partnered with the College of Natural Science and...
Origin Materials Hits the Billion-Dollar Bigtime
The web is abuzz with the news that local startup Origin Materials is going public at a $1.8 billion valuation. This is the first clean tech unicorn in the region and is deservedly getting lots of attention. This is a huge accomplishment for John Bissell, Ryan...
Infinium Closes the Carbon Cycle
Join CleanStart's Perspective with Robert Schuetzle on March 18thWe gave a big cheer to the January 26 announcement that Greyrock Energy had closed a substantial Series A round for its sister company Infinium, with heavy-hitter investors Amazon, Mitsubishi, and AP...
One Step Closer to a Five Minute EV Charge
An Israeli company called StoreDot has just announced it has made 1000 samples of its lithium-ion battery variant available for commercial testing to prove it can be recharged in five minutes. These are small batteries, but big enough that the company believes they...
Bolton eBikes: A Lesson in Building a Fast-Growing, Successful Business
It is unusual to find a hardware-based cleantech company that can grow rapidly, but Kyle Chittock, the founder of Bolton eBikes, has done just that. Located in Grass Valley they are growing exponentially, selling bikes across the US. Their revenue grew 469% in 2019...
Hot New Business Opportunities in DER Management?
At our MeetUp on January 28, three speakers talked about their experiences in installing and integrating distributed energy resources (DERs) in the grid and offered some fresh insights. We heard from Lowell Watros and John Franzino of GridSME (“Grid Subject Matter...