Investment Funds Continued Development and Commercialization of Radical New Direct Drive Technology for Utility Scale Wind Power.
Boulder Wind Power today announced it raised $8 million in Series A Preferred Stock financing. New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a leading global venture capital firm, led the round with participation from James J. Maguire, Jr., an individual investor focused on early stage investment in breakthrough renewable energy generation technologies. The funding will be used to complete development, testing and commercialization of Boulder Wind Power’s next generation direct drive technology which is simpler, more efficient and less costly to maintain than alternative wind turbine technologies. Boulder Wind Powers technology enables the production of electricity at a cost dramatically lower than existing offerings and competitive with fossil fuel energy production costs.
“The financial commitment of NEA and Jamie Maguire is a strong validation of Boulder Wind Power’s breakthrough technology and the incredibly strong team weve built over the last year,” said Sandy Butterfield, co-founder and CEO of the Company. “This funding will provide the capital resources we need to prove our direct drive wind turbine technology and bring it successfully to market.”
Butterfield co-founded the Company in 2009 with Jim Smith and Matt Jore after spending the prior 25 years with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) where he was most recently Chief Engineer of the National Wind Technology Center. NREL is the leading US national laboratory focused on the research, development and commercialization of renewable energy technologies.
“Boulder Wind Power’s novel platform technology has the potential to accelerate the wind market by enabling a levelized cost of energy at or below that of fossil fuels,” said NEA General Partner Harry Weller. “Achieving that cost parity will create a disruptive shift in the sector and position Boulder Wind Power very well to capture a meaningful share of the $50 billion global market for wind turbines.”
NEA provided earlystage capital to the Company in 2009. Since then, Boulder Wind Power has attracted a world class team of wind turbine and generator technologists and assembled an outstanding Technical Advisory Board. The team has made great progress in developing the companys patented design and preparing the company to begin working with wind turbine customers in 2011.
Management Team Expansion
Boulder Wind Power also announced that Tim Connor has joined as Vice President of Business Strategy and Chief Financial Officer. Tim brings 28 years of business and finance experience along with a passion for clean technology and building early stage businesses. Tim’s broad experience in finance, strategy and operations will help the Company navigate their financial growth and complement a strong technical team.
Connor joined Boulder Wind Power from Sequel Venture Partners where he has been a partner since 2000. Sequel is a Boulder, Colorado based venture capital firm with $410 million under management. The firm specializes in early stage investment in the health care, information technology and clean technology sectors. Prior to Sequel, Connor was Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Chief Financial Officer of Access Health, a publicly traded health care information services firm that was acquired by McKesson Corporation. Connor joined Access Health from Lehman Brothers where he was a Managing Director in Technology Investment Banking and provided financing and strategic advisory services to established and emerging technology based companies.
Connor represents Sequel on the board of directors of three private companies – Aztek Networks, Datalogix and InfoNow. He is a member of the board and executive committee of the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association and formerly served on the boards of the Rocky Mountain Venture Capital Association and the Colorado Chapter of the National Association of Corporate Directors. Connor holds a bachelors degree in economics from Washington College and earned his Master of Business Administration from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business.
About Boulder Wind Power
Boulder Wind Power is a private, venture backed company based in Boulder, Colorado that has developed a radically different direct drive wind turbine generator for utility scale electricity generation. The Company’s next generation technology is simpler, more efficient and less costly to maintain than alternative wind turbine technologies. Boulder Wind Power’s products will enable the production of electricity at a cost dramatically lower than existing offerings and competitive with fossil fuel energy production costs. The Company will be a technology provider to wind turbine manufacturers and supply its patented generator and electronics for incorporation into their products. Turbine design services will also be provided to enable Boulder Wind Power’s customers to quickly develop and deliver next generation wind turbines incorporating the BWP generator and electronics. www.boulderwindpower.com
About New Enterprise Associates
New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a leading venture capital and growth equity firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With approximately $11 billion in committed capital, NEA invests in information technology, healthcare and energy technology companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm’s long track record of successful investing includes more than 165 portfolio company IPOs and more than 265 acquisitions. In the U.S., NEA has two offices in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and one in Menlo Park, California. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing), Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. For additional information, visit www.nea.com
About James J. Maguire
Mr. Maguire is Chairman and CEO of the Philadelphia Insurance Companies, a large Commercial Property and Casualty and Management and Professional Liability insurance provider that is a unit of Tokio Marine. Mr. Maguire selectively invests in innovative, early stage renewable energy companies that enable lower cost, clean energy production.