SVB Silicon Valley Bank establishes clean-tech practice - East Bay Business Times:

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The San Jose bank appointede Quentin Falconer to lead business development inthe clean-tech industry. Based in SVB Silicon Valley Bank's Pleasanton Falconer is also responsible for coordinatinghthe company's clean-tech experts in the bank's centrapl and eastern regions. Senior bankers Frank Amoroso in Denvee and Dave Rodriguez in Bostoh are also partof SVB's clean-tech team. SVB works with emerging and growth venture-backed companies and larger establishee firms in most technology and lifescience industries. Since 2005, it has worked with 100 clean-technologh companies. "Critical mass and following the money" are the two driverd behind the decision, Falconer said.
The bank has reachesd a critical mass of clients that consider themselve sclean tech, and SVB is also looking at the amount of venturd capital going into the he said. Venture capital investing in clea n technology companies has surged over the past several In the first three quartersof 2007, venturre capital companies invested $2.6 billion in clean-tecnh firms, up from $1.8 billiomn for all of 2006. The 2007 levelp represents the highest dollarvolume ever, accordingy to Thomson Financial and the National Venture Capital Association. The pace of growtyh is expected to continue into this There are two broad areas in which Falconer says the bank can workwith venture-backed firms.
One is to help development-stagwe companies that have received venturefinancing "expand thei runway," or leverage that investment before goinf back for another round. That can take the form of term debt on top of anequitgy round, Falconer said, which in essence gives a compan y more time to develop its technology and buils more value before its next equity round. For later-stage companieas with revenue ofbetween $5 million and $50 millioh already coming in, SVB can help with workingh capital needs.
By SVB's count, it currentlty banks half of all venture-backed companies From the bank's perspective, cleanm technology is really allabout technology, so any company that is a tech companty is a natural fit, Falconer said. Throughb its venture exchange, which is part of SVB Capital, the company'xs private equity unit, it also helps companies find venture funding. SVB Silicon Valley Bank refer s to both Silicon Valley the company's California bank subsidiary, and the commercialo banking operation of (NASDAQ: