经济泡沫爆裂后，清洁技术创投企业想要做出些业绩，需要投入更多时间和资金。正因为如此，企业的短期状况不尽如人意。展望未来几年，这个新兴领域脚下拓开的将是一条崎岖不平的荆棘路。
马斯科马（Mascoma）是美国一家纤维素乙醇生产领域的新秀。几周前，马斯科马在申请上市后，悄然偃旗息鼓，放弃公开募股。2011年，多家主要的生物燃料公司如Solazyme、 Gevo和Kior在首次公开募股后，盈利惨淡不堪。有前两年的颓势在前，马斯科马在公开募股上马失前蹄，也是意料之中。在这几家旗开不利的公司中，Gevo和Kior败得最惨，各损失了超过80%和近乎70%的总资产值。
针对这类技术公司，Katie Fehrenbacher（GigaOM资深撰稿人及专栏编辑）分析了各种导致高风险的因素。Katie以Kior为样本，因为它代表了这类公司的典型：首次公开募股没有利润，加之短时间内可期利润微薄，直到企业开设资本密集型生产工厂，才可能有规模利润进账，而开工厂需要花费上千万美元。作为上市公司，Kior无疑带有巨大风险。
自2011年起，生物燃料企业开始发行新股。两年后，清洁技术投资者终于想要首次公开募股时，却发现步履维艰。这不仅加大了生物燃料领域的投资风险，也迫使这些企业转向市场寻求资本。另外，倘若没有这些清洁技术投资者打开风险敞口，带动资本流动，促进回报，处于中后期发展阶段的企业想要吸纳资本，加快商业化进程，无疑会雪上加霜。
2012年，上市市场的清洁技术创投总数减少三分之一，仅剩三个有关清洁技术的首次公开募股。对风险投资者来说，发掘流动资产以赢得利润是安身之本，首次募股便是立命之基，同企业并购一样不可或缺。但是，首次公开募股若跑输大盘，业内其他企业就很难吸引风险资本，更别提上市了。
目前，该领域最大的症结是，清洁技术企业资金短缺，募资艰难。业界新秀为找不到早期资本发愁，而已开入商业化车道的企业，也为难觅的规模资本一筹莫展。在这类资金问题中，多数是清洁技术领域独有的。
问题摆在眼前，出路在哪里？Equidity是一家刚起步的平台公司，联络后期创业新秀和买方投资者。以往，这类买方投资者通常会收购首次公开募股。但现在，因为有渠道掌握后期创业公司的数据，他们会考虑在这些公司上市前几年就先下手，既能以划算的估值成交，又能留出部分变现资金做私下买卖，增加投资多样性。
获取足够的资金支持，一直以来是清洁技术企业最头疼的难题。觅得后期资金更是蜀道之难。如果借助Equidity，资金不再是壁垒，技术公司有望磨砺内功，将投资者对上市企业的热衷和兴趣转移到自己身上。如此，上游风险资本或将摆脱间或干涸的困境，为下一代清洁技术创业者的崛起，夯实根基。
Cleantech VC Wriggles To IPO
Adam Lesser
Cleantech VC is receding because of poor short-term performance � no surprise in a post-bubble field with outsized time and money requirements. The category is about to go on a walk in the woods， where innovators will blaze a new trail.
A couple weeks back cellulosic ethanol hopeful Mascoma quietly pulled its IPO after it had filed to go public. It’s safe to say that the abysmal performance of the 2011 crop of biofuels IPOs， that included Solazyme， Gevo and Kior， did not help Mascoma’s chances of finding public money. Gevo’s been a particular stinker， losing over 80 percent of its value， though Kior is down almost 70 percent from its IPO pricing.
Katie Fehrenbacher has analyzed the various issues related to high levels of risk and companies like Kior. With no revenue at IPO and no significant revenue on the horizon until the company built a capital intensive production facility costing tens of millions， Kior has carried a significant level of risk for a publicly traded company.
I mention the high risk world of biofuel investing and the fact that these companies went to public markets seeking capital because two years after the 2011 class of biofuels IPOs， cleantech investors find themselves in challenges situations where it’s difficult get IPOs done. And without those investors having access to liquidity and returns， late stage companies are having harder times finding capital to push through the commercialization phase of growth. The IPO market all but dried up with just three cleantech IPOs in 2012 and overall cleantech VC dropped by a third. IPOs are critical for venture investors to find liquidity and produce returns， as is significant M&A activity. But IPOs that significantly underperform the market make it harder for other companies in that sector to attract VC or to go public themselves.
Of greatest concern is that as financing for cleantech gets tight， the pightest startups will struggle to find early stage capital and those companies nearing the path to commercialization will find it hard to find scaling capital. Many of these financing issues are cleantech specific.
So what to do about the problem？ I spoke recently with Mona Defrawi， the founder of Equidity， a startup that has built a platform to connect promising later stage startups with buy side investors. These are the investors who would typically buy IPOs， but who now are getting access to data on later stage startups so they can consider investing in growth companies a couple years pre-IPO at attractive valuations while giving up some liquidity by doing private deals.
And if Equidity is one small step toward making it easier for cleantech companies to get later stage capital and attract investors that will stick with the company post-IPO， that could aid a recovery in the upstream venture capital that’s needed to finance the next generation of cleantech startups.