VC Illuminates LED with $1.2B
November 28, 2012
If aisles packed with LED Christmas lights are any indicator, consumers are increasingly shifting to energy-saving, light-emitting diode lighting—an industry that's been generating investment from enlightened VCs for many years. In the last decade, LED lighting companies attracted a luminous $1.2 billion in venture funding, according to the PitchBook Platform. During that time, investors flocked to complete 121 financings, with Braemar Energy Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, NEA and VantagePoint Capital Partners becoming the most active players. In addition to GE's purchase of Albeo (which provided an exit for Braemar and Green Spark Ventures), other notable VC-backed exits in the space include the sale of Element Labs to Barco in 2010, and Asahi Kasei's acquisition of Crystal Innovative Semiconductors earlier this year.
