It was an anemic quarter for smart grid venture capital (VC) funding in Q1 2013, coming in at $62 million in nine deals.
VC funding in Q1 2013 remained remarkably consistent in four of the past five quarters with the lone exception of Alarm.com’s monster $136 million raise in Q3 2012.
After peaking in Q2 2010, VC investments in the smart grid sector have slowed down considerably. Smart meter build outs have slowed after government stimulus, as the sector and utilities struggle to convince consumers about return on investment on smart grid products and clear up some consumer misconceptions surrounding smart meters.
The Top 5 VC deals in Q1 2013 raised a combined $52 million.
By technology group, Grid Optimization companies took home most of the VC funding this quarter.
There were only four M&A transactions in Q1 2013. One of the transactions was disclosed for a total of $11 million. Last quarter, $22 million in M&A activity was disclosed in the same number of transactions.
The smart grid sector saw a rare IPO. Silver Spring Networks, a provider of smart grid products and services to utilities, had a successful IPO. The company raised $81 million by offering 4.75 million shares at $17.