greentechrnedia: Top Ten Greentech VC Deals of 2012 GreatPoint Energy and Fisker Automotive win the largest VC rounds in 2012. Eric Wesoff: January 2, 2013 Epic-sized VC rounds were plentiful in greentech in 2012. But energy generation, fuel, and automotive markets have proven challenging investment sectors for the VC asset class. Some of these large rounds flowed into startups that are long-in-tooth yet still not on a path to profitability. Global cleantech investment dropped to $1.6 billion in the second quarter of 2012, down 14 percent from the first quarter, according to the Cleantech Group. Green VC investment stood at $1.6 billion in the third quarter, level with the second quarter's tally. Deal count is down. Cleantech Group is projecting 2012 will end up seeing $6.8 billion in green VC, a 28 percent decline from $9.4 billion in 2011. With that as a backdrop, it turns out that greentech dominated in the large-size VC deal department in 2012 -- five of the ten largest VC deals sent later-stage funds to cleantech startups. Here's the list: 1. GreatPoint Energy: GreatPoint, a small firm, received a $420 million investment from Wanxiang for a minority stake in the coal-to-natural-gas firm as part of a bigger deal involving construction in China. Wanxiang is China's largest maker of auto parts and a major supplier to Ford and General Motors. (There was some hesitancy including GreatPoint on this list, as Wanxiang is not exactly a VC investor, but GreatPoint is certainly a VC-funded startup.) Call it a strategic investment from Wanxiang, the new owner of auctioned battery maker A123. GreatPoint has also received VC investment from KPCB, DFJ, Khosla Ventures, Cid Capital Advisors, Peabody Energy, ATV, SunCor and AES. Page I I. of4 EFTA00598426