GE Leads $22 Million
Investment in Energy Efficient Building Maker Project Frog; Installing Sustainable Building
at GE Learning Center
SAN FRANCISCO and OSSINING, New York,
Sept. 7, 2011 – Providing both capital and collaboration, GE led a $22
million investment round in San Francisco-based Project Frog and began
construction of one of its prefabricated environmentally sustainable buildings at
GE’s renowned Learning Center in Ossining, NY.
Led by GE (NYSE: GE) unit
GE Energy Financial Services and joined by other investors including Claremont
Creek Ventures, Greener Capital Partners and RockPort Capital Partners, the $22
million investment will help Project Frog expand its sales pipeline and execute
on orders. The investment amount for
each firm participating was not disclosed.
“Project Frog fills a
market need for high-quality, energy-efficient buildings at a lower cost and less
time to completion, which our investment and collaboration will help
demonstrate,” said Ricardo Angel, senior vice president of venture capital at
GE Energy Financial Services.
Project Frog’s technology
improves traditional building construction methods by combining semi-custom
designs with a pre-engineered kit of energy-efficient building components. This
enables higher quality, more environmentally sustainable, faster and cheaper
construction. Through advanced performance modeling, Project Frog analyzes how
its buildings will perform in each location, allowing owners to optimize a
building kit to match their desired performance. The kits are delivered to
project sites ready for assembly, and typically take one to six months to
construct —less than half the time required for traditional construction. Project Frog’s buildings use at least 25
percent less energy than the strictest building codes in the United States, and
as much as 80 percent less energy in certain parts of the country. Project Frog
manufactures its commercial building systems for educational and government
organizations, healthcare offices and retail spaces.
“We make the complicated
and lengthy process of new construction faster and easier for our customers by
providing a kit of high precision, sustainable parts that are optimized based
on the structure’s size, use and location,” said Ann Hand, CEO of Project Frog.
Construction
of the Project Frog building at GE’s John F. Welch Leadership Development
Center is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Established in 1956, the
Learning Center, also known as “Crotonville,” was the
first of its kind and has been at the forefront of real-world application for
the latest thinking in organizational development, leadership, innovation and
change. Construction of the Project
Frog building is part of a broader venture that is aimed at rethinking
Crotonville to support 21st century learning by embedding new attributes to the
curriculum, redesigning facilities and empowering participants to own their own
learning experience. GE is committed to
pursuing LEED certification – an internationally-recognized green building
certification system developed by the US Green Building Council – for select
buildings at Crotonville.
“At GE, we believe that
businesses will drive the global energy transformation,” said Mark Vachon, Vice
President, ecomagination. “Through our investment in Project Frog’s low-energy
prefab buildings, we’re not just revolutionizing the commercial-building market, we’re helping to accelerate the clean energy economy
- today.”
GE’s investment in
Project Frog formed part of the second phase of its ecomagination Challenge,
which was launched in January as part of GE’s commitment to improve building energy
efficiency through new technologies. At
present, GE and its partners have invested or committed to invest $134 million
in energy and power grid technology developers announced as winners of the
Innovation Challenge. The Challenge has
also produced 22 new commercial partnerships and resulted in the acquisition of
FMC-Tech, a smart grid technology company from the first phase.
Better, Greener, Faster. Smart. Project
Frog is on a mission to revolutionize the way buildings are created by applying
technology to overcome the inefficiencies of traditional construction. The result is a structure that is measurably
greener and significantly smarter; brighter, healthier spaces that inspire
better performance from the people who occupy them. We offer a versatile ecosystem of products
that adapt to all kinds of uses including: healthcare, education and retail.
Project Frog's innovative systems are frequent recipients of industry awards
for their design and performance. For
more information, visit www.projectfrog.com.
About
GE Energy Financial Services
GE Energy Financial Services’ experts invest globally with a long-term
view, backed by the best of GE’s technical know-how, financial strength and
rigorous risk management, across the capital spectrum, in one of the world’s
most capital intensive industries, energy. GE Energy Financial Services helps its
customers and GE grow through new investments, strong partnerships and optimization
of its approximately $20 billion in assets. The company was named by the
Cleantech Group as one of top 10 most active venture capital investors in
energy technology companies in 2010. GE
Energy Financial Services is based in Stamford, Connecticut. For more
information, visit www.geenergyfinancialservices.com.
About
GE
About Claremont Creek Ventures
Claremont Creek Ventures turbocharges the uncommon startup. As a
seed and early stage venture firm, it embraces emerging technologies that
accelerate company success, specifically in the energy conservation, digital
healthcare and security markets. Utilizing a proprietary life-cycle venturing
program, it partners with East-Bay corridor-based entrepreneurs and
institutions, including UC Berkeley, Lawrence Livermore Labs and UC Davis.
Claremont Creek has more than $300 million in capital under management in two funds.
CCV energy management investments in addition to FROG include Adura
Technologies, Alphabet Energy, Clean Power Finance, EcoFactor and Sentilla Networks . For more information, visit www.claremontcreek.com.
About
Greener Capital
Greener Capital
invests in high-growth, early-to-mid-stage Clean Technology companies. The
firm, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, was founded in 2009 by Charles
Finnie. Greener Capital recently did a first closing on its second fund, which
is targeted at $125 million. 100% of the firm's Fund I investors have committed
to participating in Fund II.
About RockPort Capital Partners
RockPort Capital
Partners is a leading venture capital firm partnering with clean tech entrepreneurs
around the world to build innovative companies and bring disruptive
technologies and products to the 21st century. RockPort’s investment approach
is distinguished by collaboration with management teams to foster growth and
create value. Combining domain expertise with policy and international
experience, RockPort has a proven track record of leveraging its insights and
networks to foster growth and create value. For more information, visit
www.rockportcap.com.
Note
to Editors: Caption for photo:
Shown here is a rendering of the planned Project Frog building at the GE
Learning Center in Ossining, NY. (Credit: Project Frog)
Click the below to
access the rendering:
https://www.genewscenter.com/ImageLibrary/detail.aspx?MediaDetailsID=4049
Click the below to
see examples of Project Frog’s projects http://www.projectfrog.com/partners/featured_projects/
Contacts:
Project Frog contact
Nikki Tankursley
Director of Marketing
415-814-8520
nikki@projectfrog.com
Christa Bowers
GE Energy Financial Services
203-961-2934