February 1, 2011 source: Techcrunch GreenTech
A company that makes systems to turn heat-waste into electricity, Alphabet Energy, has officially moved its technology out of the lab and into pilot production, the company announced today.
A director at Claremont Creek Ventures, Paul Straub, said of Alphabet Energy:
“They're going after a huge problem. As VCs, we look at investments that can be [in] billion dollar markets. What they're trying to do, when you look at the global applications of it, could amount to a hundred billion dollar market.
One great thing about Alphabet Energy's technology is that it uses very widely available material, and well understood manufacturing processes. Their underling discovery recognized thermoelectric properties in something familiar.
I've also never seen a company in our portfolio or in any portfolio developing physical product while being so capital efficient. They have a majority of their seed round left, nine months later, and have hit all the milestones they said they would.”
Straub said [Claremont Creek Ventures] focuses on clean tech opportunities and startups that can make extraordinary progress with a small amount of seed funding, rather than requiring massive infrastructural change or huge subsidies in order to become profitable.
Nine months ago, Alphabet Energy secured a $1 million seed investment from Claremont Creek Ventures and the CalCEF Angel Fund. In the last two years it also attained $320,000 in Small Business innovation Research grants and contracts from the U.S. Army, Air Force, and the Department of Energy…
Read the full article at Techcrunch GreenTech