...Unprecedented Levels of Government Funding: Uncle Sam has changed the financing game for green energy startups this year, investing in very early-stage, high-risk technologies (through the ARPA-E program) that traditionally wouldn’t attract much venture capital interest. The government has also backed projects of such massive scale and scope in the smart grid buildout that they will create a snowball effect, delivering market opportunities directly and indirectly for many more new firms selling consulting services, software, networking devices and consumer electronics. David Anthony, founding partner of 21Ventures, told us this summer, “There’s more money allocated to cleantech in the stimulus package, than there’s probably going to be invested by venture capitalists in North American cleantech startups over the next three years combined.”