Cleantech startups - where are they based?
Everybody is talking about cleantech - but where is all the action happening?
Earth2tech have knocked up a great map of 101 cleantech startups. While this is a strongly US-centric view of cleantech it is still interesting to see where the hot companies are based.
A lot of these companies need significant funding to set up so there is an expected correlation between cleantech developments and sites of existing venture capital activity such as Silicon Valley.
My guess is that there will be further geographical consolidation of cleantech companies as geographical network effects start creating competitive advantages both for the entrepreneurs and investors. The Valley will be one - and if the trend here continues they may well corner the market in a similar way to their web startup cousins. Whether or not Europe is able to create a viable alternative is debatable and really the most interesting area to watch is China - home of the first solar billionaire. So far China has struggled to develop their cleantech industry as they are still a step behind US companies that control most of the IP in this space.
