Lanzatech makes the 2010 Guardian Cleantech 100

The 2010 Guardian Cleantech 100 was out yesterday. This list seeks to answer the question: which 100 of today's private cleantech companies are the most likely to make the most significant market impact over the next 5-10 years?

This year saw over 4000 nominations that were eventually funnelled down to around 200 companies, and then presented to an expert judging panel comprised of leading cleantech investors and corporations from Europe, the USA and Asia.

New Zealand company Lanzatech has made it onto this years list which is a fantastic achievement. Lanzatech uses a proprietary bacteria to convert 'dirty' waste gases from industry into ethanol that can be used as a fuel. It has run a pilot plant scale development to prove the technology at the Glenbrook Steel Mill, out of Auckland, since 2007, and has recently signed an agreement to build a demonstration plant at Baosteel's Shanghai steel mill.

Aside from Lanzatech's success in making the 2010 list, the site is a fantastic resource for what is happening in the cleantech sector right now. There is some incredible innovation happening - and proof that we have some of the solutions for combating climate change. The next challenge will be in how to scale them.

LanzaTech Secures New Funding

It was a nice suprise to see a little piece of home in my feed reader this morning - LanzaTech, an Auckland-based Cleantech company, have raised $US18 million in a Series B financing round.

The funding comes from Qiming Ventures and Softbank China Venture Capital, and follows on from the Series A funding from K1W1 (a VC fund set up by Warehouse founder Sir Stephen Tindall), and Khosla Ventures (Vinod Khosla has recently visited NZ to speak at a conference I believe).

Lanzatech uses a proprietary bacteria to convert 'dirty' waste gases from industry into ethanol that can be used as a fuel. It has run a pilot plant scale development to prove the technology at the Glenbrook Steel Mill, out of Auckland, since 2007, and aims to have a pre-commercial scale plant built and active by 2011. The cool thing about this technology is that it can produce clean fuel and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of industry at the same time. Also, the feedstock is readily available (esp. in China!) and doesn't compete with food or crops like some ethanol feedstocks such as corn.

The pool of capital available in NZ for such investments has always been low. China will increasingly become an option for NZ companies looking for funding, especially in Cleantech - an area that China will need to invest heavily in if it is to clean up it's environmental problems.