By Greentech Lead Team: SAIL Venture Partners, a part of SAIL
Capital Partners, has partnered with a Canadian subsidiary of Stifel Financial to set up a joint venture in Canada
to fund start up clean tech companies.
The joint venture will be investing
in early stage cleantech companies that have developed innovative products
ready for market.
“Canada is a world leader in
fostering cleantech innovation. By establishing a joint venture with Stifel in
Canada, we plan to grow those innovations into industry leaders,” said
Peter Polydor, vice president at SAIL.
SAIL Venture Partners will become
one of the first American cleantech venture firms to set up a presence in
Toronto to capitalize on opportunities in Canada. As a global player focused
entirely on cleantech, SAIL’s expansion into Canada represents a tremendous
vote of confidence in the quality of Canada’s cleantech sector.
“By investing in Canadian
entrepreneurs and their technologies, SAIL’s expertise will extend and deepen
the already significant linkages between Canada and California in this
increasingly important economic sector,” said Consul General of Canada in
Los Angeles, David Fransen.
“The opportunity for cleantech
venture investment in Canada is immense, and we are excited to join forces with
SAIL, an investor who has been focused on the space for over a decade,”
stated David Fowler, president and CEO of Stifel Nicolaus Canada.
Stifel is active in the sector,
having advised on transactions totaling more than $180 million for cleantech
and renewable companies in the past three months.
SAIL has invested in companies such
as Xtreme Power, which is designing and
installing the world’s largest power-storage system linked to a wind farm for
Duke Energy. Moreover, SAIL has invested The Cleantech Group, Dow Kokam,
Enerpulse, Activeion, SNTech, FlexEnergy, Paragon Airheater Technologies, Ice
Energy, M2 Renewables, Clean Technology Solutions, CNS Response, and
WaterHealth International.