Monday, October 13, 2008

Rockport invests in Project Frog

By Mass High Tech Staff

San Francisco-based modular building maker Project Frog has brought in $4 million in venture funding led by Rockport Capital Partners, according to published reports.

Project Frog makes components that can be custom-arranged to build homes or offices. The units are intended to be environmentally friendly and quick and easy to assemble. The $4 million is part of a larger $8 million round, according to the website PEHub.com.

Rockport Capital Partners has an office in Boston. The venture firm’s portfolio includes Advanced Electron Beams Inc., Evergreen Solar Inc., Lilliputian Systems Inc., Comverge Inc., and Aspen Aerogels Inc.

Last month, Rockport Capital Partners invested in three companies. The firm led a $37 million investment round in Wind Power Holdings Inc., the parent company of Barre, Vt.-based distributed power systems developer Northern Power Systems Inc. The funding will be used to help Northern Power scale the manufacturing of its Northwind 100 wind turbines, used for distributed power environments, and to expedite the development of its 2.2 megawatt permanent magnet direct drive wind turbine aimed at the commercial-scale wind farm market.

The firm also partnered with California’s Shasta Ventures to provide the first round of funding for home energy efficiency startup Sustainable Spaces Inc., based in San Francisco. The tandem provided Sustainable Spaces with $6 million in Series A funding, aimed at helping the company “build its infrastructure to meet the exploding demand for its services.”