Coaltek's $7.7M Series A, and other items of note

• PE Week Wire revealed today that Coaltek has raised an approx. $7.7M Series A from funders including Technology Partners, DFJ, Braemar Energy Ventures, and Warburg Pincus. Coaltek's proprietary treatment process for coal allows dirtier Western coal to much more closely resemble Eastern coal, providing economic and pollution benefits. We last saw Coaltek at the spring Cleantech Venture Forum, where the clean technology implications of such "incremental technologies" were debated (scroll down to "Alternative Fuels" to read about it).

• Can't link to it, but if you get the chance, see the WSJ's column today on "Where the Bets Are," which describes where VCs are shifting their attention these days. Of course, clean technology is prominently highlighted, with a nice quote from Ira Ehrenpreis of Technology Partners.
  

• Cleantech investors EnerTech Capital Partners announced that Wally Hunter is coming over from RBC to become a Managing Member and open up EnerTech's Canadian office in Toronto. Everyone seems quite pleased at what seems like a good fit, compliments all around.

• For those following fuel cells as an investment area, there was this interesting overview of the 2005 Fuel Cell Seminar. Quite useful reading. It appears that the critical hydrogen storage issue remains unresolved...