For the past three years, the Cleantech Group has released an annual list of the top 100 private companies in the clean technology (cleantech) sector. This year’s list has just been announced.
The cleantech sector under scrutiny here consists of companies involved in the areas of energy efficiency, biofuels and biochemicals, smart grids, renewable energy, water and waste, and transportation. To qualify for this Global Cleantech 100, the companies must be independent, for-profit, and not yet listed on any major stock exchange. The group uses their research data to collate the list, and they say there were over 6,000 nominations and input from a 75-member expert cleantech panel.
The group maintains these companies represent the most innovative and promising ideas in cleantech right now; the companies that “are best positioned to solve tomorrow’s clean technology challenges”. These are the companies said to potentially make the most significant market impact over the coming five to ten years.
There are a few increasingly familiar names on the list, such as SolarCity and Nest from the U.S., and LanzaTech from New Zealand; although, most are not well known to the public just yet.
Company of the Year was awarded in each of three regions. The winners were Opower for North America, Nova LED for Europe & Israel, and Miartech for the Asia Pacific region. The Rising Star of the Year award was given to Clean Power Finance, which is a provider of power purchase financing for solar PV installations and customer acquisition software for installers.
Notably, Google Ventures won Corporate Investor of the Year in one of two investor categories, as the corporate investor with the biggest percentage of its cleantech venture portfolio in this year’s list. The Investor of the Year award went to Bright Capital, as the financial investor with the largest percentage of its cleantech venture portfolio in the list.
Overall, thirteen countries are represented in the 2012 Global Cleantech 100 list, with the United States being the most represented with 64 companies.
The full list and report are online (for free) here.
via CleanEdge
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