What Excites Investors Today
According to the SDTC's Cleantech Growth & Go-to-Market Report of 2010, "The Canadian clean technology industry grew at a compound annual growth rate of 47% during the worst recession in recent history. Highest growth companies achieved growth of 170% during the recession. Planned compound annual growth rate for 2010 to 2012 is 117%".
For investors, this is promising data signalling cleantech market expansion.
For example, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, a "traditional" investor injecting $75 million into start-up BlueEarth Renewables. Hopefully this extremely positive move is a precursor to reverting to pre market crash levels when cleantech investing was at its peak. When these investors are open to allocating a larger portion of their portfolios to cleantech, others follow.
But it's not all rosy for cleantech companies. Here's another stat from SDTC's report: "86% of Canadian clean technology companies have not yet broken through the $5M revenue mark". This stat indicates that investors have poured money into companies which are taking longer to commercialize and expand outside of their backyard.
Most investors want to see highly scalable businesses with lower capital expenditures. It would appear that Canadian cleantech companies need to have a more comprehensive global strategy in order to truly compete and attract foreign investment.
It is imperative that cleantech companies focus on cash-flowing scalable business models. These are the major elements getting investors excited lately.
