Here is an article from Venture Capital Dispatch.
“The latest sign of a shakeout in the clean-technology sector is news that battery company Firefly Energy Inc. is shutting down after failing to raise a $20 million round of fresh capital. VentureWire has the story. The company, whose backers include cleantech powerhouse Khosla Ventures, developed a technology for replacing conventional lead plates in batteries with carbon-based foam. Expect more such stories as companies that raised capital when VC enthusiasm for cleantech was boundless find that the bar is now much higher.
Venture capitalists can keep breathing easy on the regulatory front as the latest effort to rein in the financial industry largely exempts them. Revised legislation submitted by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, requires hedge funds with more than $100 million of assets under management to register with regulators, but still exempts private equity and venture funds, VentureWire reports. Of course the game isn’t over yet, but Dodd’s bill is easier on private equity than the House and Obama administration versions and, as anyone following the health-care debate knows, crafting a bill that can pass muster in the Senate is the hardest battle.
Across the Atlantic, similar regulatory matters continue to provoke controversy, as European finance ministers delay plans to vote on a directive regulating hedge funds, private equity and venture capital investment. The proposal has the potential to decimate the venture capital industry in the European Union, critics say.”
Read the full article here.
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