Clean-energy startups secure private investment

New York Times : In 2009 Envia Systems of Newark, California, was among 37 companies that shared $151 million in government grants to pursue clean-energy ideas. Though promising, the ideas would require years, even decades, of R&D before becoming marketable products. Now, Envia, which is developing a new kind of cathode for batteries, has secured an order from General Motors. As Matthew Wald of the New York Times reports, six companies in Envia’s class have attracted $108 million in private-sector financing, which amounts to about four private dollars for every one dollar of initial government investment. Known as ARPAE, the program for financing the startups was modeled on DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.