Mercom Reports on Smart
Grid Sector Funding and M&A Activity for Q3 2012
Mercom Capital Group, llc, a
global clean energy communications and consulting firm, today released its
report on funding and mergers and acquisition (M&A) activity for the smart
grid sector during the third quarter of 2012.
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Smart
grid venture capital (VC) funding showed some signs of life in Q3 2012 with
$238 million in 12 deals. The rise in funding was mostly due to $136 million raised
by Alarm.com, a security and home automation company. VC funding in the last
three quarters had been relatively weak (Q4 2011 - $66M in 10 deals, Q1 2012 –
$62M in 10 deals, Q2 2012 - $66M in 9 deals), whereas VC funding even without
the Alarm.com transaction exceeded $100 million this quarter.
“The
Alarm.com funding deal and the acquisition of Vivint for $2.2 billion by
Blackstone Group is part of a growing trend where home security companies have
expanded into home automation,” said Raj Prabhu, Managing Partner at Mercom
Capital Group. “We expect to see more transactions in this niche where
security, cable and telecom companies expand their offerings to cover the whole
‘connected or digital’ home services which would include everything from
communication and automation services to solar installations.”
Apart
from Vivint and Alarm.com, other companies in the home security/home
automation business that were involved in funding and M&A deals in the last few years include AlertMe, Intamax Systems, Control4, iControl
Networks, Home Automation, APX Alarm and Xanboo.
Top
five deals this quarter included $136 million raised by Alarm.com from ABS
Capital Partners, Equis Capital Partners, NJTC Venture Fund, and Technology
Crossover Ventures; GridPoint, an energy management company raised $23.3
million (investors undisclosed); Viridity Energy, a demand side management
solutions company, raised $15 million from Mitsui; Space-Time Insight, a
geospatial information systems company, raised $14 million from EnerTech
Capital, Novus Energy Partners, ClearSky Power & Technology Fund, Opus
Capital Ventures and Start Up Farms International; and SIGFOX, a wireless
connectivity solutions provider for smart metering, building intelligence and
M2M among other markets using ultra narrow band technology, raised $12.6 million
from Intel Capital, Elaia Partners, Partech Ventures International and iXO
Private Equity.
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Merger
& Acquisition (M&A) activity in Q3 2012 totaled $2.2 billion in five
transactions. Top M&A transactions were the $2 billion acquisition of
Vivint, a home automation services company, by Blackstone, and the $183 million
acquisition of smart grid and automation solutions provider ZIV Group by
electrical transmission and distribution equipment company Crompton Greaves.
“We
will also be watching for strategic M&As in this area as companies look to
add service and technologies needed to compete,” added Prabhu.
For a complete list of Q3
2012 transactions in the smart grid sector, visit: http://mercomcapital.com/cleanenergyreports.php
About
Mercom Capital Group
Mercom Capital Group, llc,
is a global communications and consulting firm focused exclusively on clean
energy and financial communications. Mercom’s consulting division advises
cleantech companies on new market entry, custom market intelligence and overall
strategic decision-making. Mercom’s consulting division also delivers highly
respected industry market intelligence reports covering Solar Energy, Wind
Energy and Smart Grid. Our reports provide timely industry happenings and
ahead-of-the-curve analysis specifically for C-level decision making. Mercom’s
communications division helps clean energy companies and financial institutions
build powerful relationships with media, analysts, government decision-makers,
local communities and strategic partners. For more information about Mercom
Capital Group, visit: http://www.mercomcapital.com.
To get a copy of Mercom’s popular market intelligence reports, visit: http://mercomcapital.com/market_intelligence.php.
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