Today's cleantech deal: Ice Energy, an advanced air conditioning systems manufacturer, raised $5m in Series A, led by Odyssey.
Advanced air conditioning is an intriguing market. Certainly an area of energy use that is ripe for economizing/ conservation, given massive consumption, particularly in light of the fact that most energy used for air conditioning is used during peak hours (in fact, air conditioning pretty much drives peak hours). Ice Energy is one of a few players that have made some noise recently with better designs for air conditioners, across residential, commercial and industrial applications.
One caution is that an exit (probably a trade sale to a Carrier or York or other traditional HVAC systems manufacturer) requires very large sales traction before any of the most likely acquirers would become interested. HVAC is a very slow-changing industry. But new regulations (esp. around energy efficiency and fresh air requirements) could drive more rapid change, and it's certainly a massive market. Best of luck to Ice Energy and Odyssey, it would be great to see something happen in this sector.
