Khosla Ventures, CMEA Capital, GE Energy Financial
Services,
and Statoil Technology Invest lead $15 million in Series B round for Danotek
Canton, MI
(August 30, 2011) – Danotek, a company that develops and manufactures permanent
magnet generators (PMG’s) and related converter systems that deliver wind
energy to the power grid, today announced that it has secured $15 million in
funding. Led by four of the world’s leading renewable energy venture capital
firms, Khosla Ventures, CMEA Capital, GE Energy
Financial Services, and Statoil Technology Invest, along with independent contributors,
the Series B financing round will help bring to market new technology that will
make wind turbines more efficient, reliable, and affordable. The funds will be
used to expand research and development initiatives, as well as launch initial
production.
“Our leading
PMG technology, combined with our commitment to effective partnerships with our
customers, has already been rewarded with orders exceeding $50 million. The
fact that our current investors want to continue supporting us via the B-round
illustrates their confidence in our technology and leadership team,” noted Don Naab, Danotek’s President and
CEO. “We are already contracted with some of the wind industry’s leading
turbine manufacturers, with our first systems going up-tower later this year,
and we’re engaged in multiple negotiations with several other globally-recognized
turbine manufacturers. Danotek is on track and well positioned for success.”
Danotek’s
patent-pending variable PMG’s are a technological leap forward for the wind
energy industry. PMG’s save more than
$1 million per typical utility-scale turbine for wind farm developers, owners,
and manufacturers over the life of the turbine. Their unique and simplified
design offers highly efficient performance even at low wind speeds. They are
significantly more efficient than conventional generators (with efficiency
rates exceeding 98 percent), and they incur lower operating and maintenance
costs. They are half the weight of conventional generators and deliver improved
reliability because they contain no “wear-and-tear” parts.
“At Khosla Ventures we invest in technologies with the
potential to disrupt their industries,” said founder Vinod
Khosla. “The latest round of orders Danotek has
received for its permanent magnet generators is just the beginning. We look
forward to Danotek’s continued growth by means of
company innovation, partnerships, and customers across the globe.”
“Danotek’s products improve the efficiency and reliability
of the drive-train, which is critical for its customers. We’ve been impressed
by its proven commercial traction and increased our investment so Danotek can
continue to grow its customer base and extend its product line,” said Rachel
Sheinbein, partner at CMEA Capital. “We believe that the company is
well-positioned to become a leading force in the wind energy industry.”
This latest
round of venture capital brings the total private funding invested in Danotek
to $41 million. The cash infusion comes as clean and renewable energy remains a
high priority for governments, utilities, consumers, and communities around the
world.
Contact
Sarah Zajas, Marketing Manager
Danotek Motion
Technologies
Phone: (734) 426-5976
ext. 442
Sylvie Tongco, Atomic PR
for CMEA
Phone: (415) 593-1400
Email:
cmea@atomicpr.com
Khosla Ventures
Angela
Hayward
Phone:
(650) 376-8500
Email:
ah@khoslaventures.com
Christa Bowers
GE Energy Financial Services
Phone: (203)
961-2934
Elin A. Isaksen
Statoil Technology Invest
Phone:
+47 48091183
Email:
eisak@statoil.com
Background
About Danotek Motion Technologies
Danotek Motion Technologies develops and manufactures highly
efficient energy conversion systems for the wind energy and industrial markets.
Danotek has patents pending on several innovative products, including permanent
magnet generators (PMG’s) and power electronics for wind turbines as well as
variably speed propulsion and accessory drives for the electric and hybrid
electric vehicle markets. The company is based in Canton, MI. For more
information visit www.danotekmotion.com
About Khosla Ventures
Khosla Ventures offers venture assistance, strategic
advice and capital to entrepreneurs. The firm helps entrepreneurs extend the
potential of their ideas in breakthrough scientific work in clean technology
areas such as solar, battery, high efficiency engines, lighting, greener
materials like cement, glass and bio-refineries for energy and bioplastics, and other environmentally friendly
technologies as well as traditional venture areas like the Internet, computing,
mobile and silicon technology arenas. Vinod Khosla founded the firm in 2004 and was formerly a General
Partner at Kleiner Perkins and founder of Sun
Microsystems. Khosla Ventures is based in Menlo Park,
California. For more information visit www.khoslaventures.com
About
CMEA Capital
CMEA Capital provides
capital to entrepreneurs and investors in the life sciences, energy &
materials, and information technology sectors. Through its combination of solid
scientific credentials and seasoned management expertise, CMEA
identifies, funds and manages new businesses based on the emerging,
interdisciplinary science required to meet the challenges and opportunities of
a rapidly changing global economy. The firm currently manages seven funds
representing investments in excess of $1 billion. CMEA has been an early stage
investor in many leading companies, including Flextronics, Symmx,
Codexis, Maxygen, A123
Systems, Entropic, Silicon Spice, Luminate (formerly Pixazza), Blekko, and Jobvite. For more information, please visit www.cmea.com
About GE
Energy Financial Services
GE Energy
Financial Services’ experts invest globally with a long-term view, backed by
the best of GE’s technical know-how, financial strength and rigorous risk
management, across the capital spectrum, in one of the world’s most capital
intensive industries, energy. GE Energy Financial Services helps its customers
and GE grow through new investments, strong partnerships and optimization of its approximately $20 billion in assets. The company was named by the Cleantech Group as one of top 10 most active venture
capital investors in energy technology companies in 2010. GE
Energy Financial Services is based in Stamford, Connecticut. For more
information, visit www.geenergyfinancialservices.com
About Statoil
Technology Invest (SVI)
SVI is Statoil
ASA’s seed/venture team investing in the energy sector in Scandinavia, Europe,
and North America. The team is managing Statoil‘s venture portfolio of around
30 companies and has provided seed project finance to some 350 companies. The
close cooperation with technology users as well as Statoil’s in-house R&D
gives SVI a unique ability to review and help build young companies with the
potential to develop break-through technologies needed in the energy sector.
SVI is located in Stavanger, Oslo, and Trondheim. For additional information please
visit http://innovate.statoil.com
-###-