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Cleantech Investments Up In Q2

A new analysis released today b y Ernst & Young, based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource, finds that U.S. venture capital investment in the clean technology sector was up in Q2. According to the study, US VC investments in cleantech hit $1.5 billion, spread across 65 financing rounds. The study said that is a 63.8 percent increase in the amount of capital, and 4.6 percent increase in number of deals compared with Q2 of last year. The numbers were heavily weighted toward the top 10 deals in the sector, with the study finding those deals represented $993M, or two thirds of the total investment in the area. the areas with the most investment were automotive, solar, and biofuels deals. Southern California firm Fisker Automotive, which is based in Irvine, was among the firms raising capital in the automotive sector, with $35M in funding for its plug-in hybrid vehicle efforts. In addition, a firm building a major solar project in the Mojave Desert, Oakland's BrightSource Energy, had the second-largest deal in the quarter, $180M in a later stage funding round.