GMZ Energy has secured USD14 million in Series C financing. The new investment was led by Mitsui Ventures and includes I2BF Global Ventures, Energy Technology Ventures (a joint venture of GE, NRG Energy and ConocoPhillips), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and BP Alternative Energy. With the new funding, GMZ will expand its engineering and go-to-market capabilities as the company moves into production of a new class of renewable technologies.   GMZ specialises in direct heat-to-electricity conversion, applying an advanced nanotechnology process to produce high-performance and economically viable thermoelectric material. The GMZ material unlocks the potential of primary heat sources like

Golden Seeds has closed its second fund with USD26.5 million in committed capital for investments in early stage, high growth companies across at least three sectors, including technology, life sciences and consumer goods. The fund already boasts eight portfolio companies: AboutOne – online household management system; Cognition Therapeutics – drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease; Hatsize – cloud-based training and demonstrations of complex technologies; LARK – sleep system that helps you wake better, and sleep better too; Open Road Integrated Media – digital publisher and multimedia content company; RuMe – manufacturer and distributor of fair trade reusable fashion items; Style for

Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group has acquired The Sniffers, a Belgian provider of emission monitoring and related services to the global oil and gas industries, from majority owner Creafund. Creafund and The Sniffers’ management team will continue as minority owners. Equity for the investment comes from Carlyle Europe Technology Partners II. Terms of the transaction, which closed on 21 December 2011, were not disclosed.   Founded in 1991, The Sniffers is one of the largest providers of fugitive emission monitoring outside the United States and has a premier market position in Europe and the Middle East. Fugitive emission

DNV has acquired 74.3% of KEMA’s shares. The new combined company DNV KEMA will consist of all 1,800 KEMA employees and 500 employees from DNV’s renewable energy and sustainability activities. The new company will be led by Thijs Aarten, the CEO of KEMA, and headquartered in Arnhem, the Netherlands.  Aarten will report to a Supervisory Board chaired by DNV CEO Henrik O. Madsen. “By joining forces, 2,300 experts will meet the needs of an industry in rapid transition and growth,” says says Leif Arne Langøy, the Chairman of DNV’s Board of Directors. “The combination of cleaner fossil-fuel-based power generation and

Perusa Partners has held a EUR200 million first and final closing of Perusa Partners Fund 2, a Guernsey limited partnership managed by Guernsey-based Perusa Partners Management Limited. Perusa believes that the success and fast-pace of the fund’s final closing is attributable to significant support from existing investors, combined with exceptional interest from new ones. Allocation to new partners was limited to select, high quality, long-term institutional investors. Subscribers to the Fund included pension funds and insurance companies from Australia, the Netherlands, Nordic countries and the US. The target and hard cap of EUR200 million was self-imposed by Perusa in order

Denver-based private equity firm KRG Capital Partners (KRG) has completed its sale of Avizent to York Risk Services Organization, Inc, a portfolio company of ABRY Partners. The all-cash sale closed on, 2011 and represents KRG’s third successful exit in its USD715 million Fund III. Avizent, headquartered in Dublin, Ohio is a fully integrated national risk management provider serving the workers’ compensation, auto and general liability segments. Avizent’s innovative service offering includes third-party claims administration (TPA), medical managed care services, network PPO access (including diagnostic scheduling services) and alternative risk solutions. Unlike most of its competitors that outsource most or all

Manfield Partners has acquired two packaged food businesses – MCM Select Foods Limited in the UK and MCM Foods BV in the Netherlands – from Mitsui & Co Ltd of Japan.   The two businesses import, distribute and market a mixture of exclusive brands and own label foods for retailers and food service companies. The product range comprises a selection of foods but primarily canned fish (tuna, salmon etc) and fruit. The combined business is expected to generate revenues of circa GBP75m in the year to March 2012 with profits in excess of GBP1m.   Manfield was attracted to the

VTB Capital and I2BF Global Ventures have jointly launched a USD100m nanotechnology venture fund with cornerstone backing from the Russian state nanotechnology fund RusNano and Kazyna Capital Management, the sovereign wealth fund of the Republic of Kazakhstan. These entities have committed USD25m each to the new fund, with VTB Capital and I2BF expecting to raise a further USD50m from external investors. The agreement was signed on 21 December 2011 in Almaty at a ceremony attended by Aset Isekeshev, Vice-Premier of Kazakhstan and Minister of Industry and New Technologies, and will soon be followed by the opening of offices in Moscow