VC funding in smart grid sector at $101 million in Q1: Mercom

Venture capital funding in smart grid technology companies was made through 21 deals in the three months ended March

Venture capital funding in the smart grid sector stood at $101 million in the first quarter of 2014, according to a report by clean energy consultant Mercom Capital Group.

Venture capital (VC) funding in smart grid technology companies was made through 21 deals in the three months ended March.

A year earlier, there were 11 deals worth $148 million. In the fourth quarter of 2013, VC funding in the smart grid sector stood at $148 million by way of 31 deals.

"Funding into smart grid companies is trending up the past couple of quarters," Mercom Capital Group CEO and Co-Founder Raj Prabhu said.

The top VC-funded companies in the most recent quarter were led by SIGFOX, a wireless connectivity solutions provider for smart metering, which raised $20.6 million, followed by EnVerv ($15.4 million) and Smart Wire Grid ($13.4 million).

Among other deals, AutoGrid, a provider of Big Data analytics, raised $12.8 million from E ON Foundation Capital and Voyager Capital. Rounding out the Top 5 was Grid20/20, a provider of integrated distribution transformer monitoring solutions, which raised $8.1 million.

On the mergers and acquisition front, there were six transactions in Q1, two of which disclosed amounts totalling $3.35 billion.

The top disclosed transactions were Google's $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest Labs, a smart thermostat and home energy solutions provider, followed by the $150 million acquisition of Aclara Technologies, a provider of advanced solutions, by Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm from ESCO Technologies.