Over the past 16 years, I have been involved in 5 successful startup companies ranging from an energy company, to several .com companies. Now I am focusing all of my attention on creating the tipping point in the sustainability movement by pushing initiatives in government, business and the broader social landscape. 
Many people are curious, what I am doing since I left Powerset. Well, the short story is that I have decided to dedicate myself to what I call the new Green Economy and I am working on several initiatives with other leaders in government and businesses that all fall under the responsibility of non-profit that I am founding called SF Green. 
Suniva, a solar cell company, raised $50 million dollars. Is this another sign of a the trend of large investment rounds where only the big boys can play? or will this be a fad that will end soon?All of the Green Green deal blogs are all excitedly reporting Suniva's $50 million raise as the big Solar deal of the day including CNET, VentureBeat, Reuters and the Atlanta Journal, but the story behind the scenes isn't just this one deal. It is the trend that Suniva represents.
What's the no spin facts about the deal?
Ok. So here are the basics - Suniva, a thin film solar company licenses its solar technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology's University Center of Excellence in Photovoltaics. What's Suniva's big differentiator? They claim to be able to improve the efficiency of solar cells by about 20%, which would put it in league with SunPower, who is the leader in the industry at the moment. (Note: this does not mean solar is cheaper than Coal) The money raised, will be used to create a manufacturing facility in Atlanta and to hire 100 green collar workers in the Atlanta region.
What makes this story interesting?
One of the things I am trying to accomplish with BlogNewcomb is to announce the daily deals, but provide some perspective with them, so you can see and understand the trends that are happening. What I hope Suniva provides is further evidence that Green, while similar to the Internet investment bubble, is very different in many ways.
in Suniva's case, this announcement is symbolic of how many big GreenTech deals are going down. Its first round was $5.5 million (respectible, but not too large either) and then its second round is $50 million (which is way beyond the means of most Venture Capital companies) What's interesting is who the investors are in this Big Boy market. In Suniva's case, the second round was lead by NEA (one of the largest VCs in the Silicon Valley) and Advanced Equities Inc, a venture capital investment bank. The followers in SUniva's raise were Goldman Sachs unit Cogentrix Energy Inc, a power producer, and HIG Ventures and Quercus Investments.
One of the key differentiators of the Green Bubble from the Internet Bubble will be the size of the rounds and who gets to play. So the question is "if the Green Bubble is going to be a huge part of the future of the venture capital industry, then what is the future of smaller venture captial companies that aren't big enough to play?" Is it possible that there will be a minimum fund size to be at the table? and how will angel investors participate in Green companies? All of these questions lead to the biggest question, or possibly conclusion, of all - Green is going to change who the players are in the venture capital space. Look for big private equity firms, some that are familiar and some that you have never heard of to become big players, and look for some of those smaller charming VCs to pushed to the side and become less important. As for angels - did someone say start a fund of funds now?