In its Q2 report, the communications and consulting firm said venture capital funding totaled $66 million in nine deals. That compares to $62 million (10 deals) in Q1 of this year and $66 million (10 deals) in Q4 of 2011.

The reason? According to Raj Prabhu, Managing Partner at Mercom: "Funding levels continue to be extremely weak in the smart grid sector, a reflection of shifting business models as the industry continues to struggle to understand customer needs and address customer misconceptions along with security concerns and other issues."

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Mercom lists top deals in the last quarter:

·         $15 million raised by Power Plus Communications, a broadband powerline communication systems company

·         $11.3 million raised by Tendril, an energy management company

·         $10.1million raised by On-Ramp Wireless, a low-power monitoring and control applications provider

Meanwhile, Mercom reports M&A activity in Q2 2012 totaled $14 billion in seven transactions. Top M&A transactions were:

·         $11.8 billion acquisition of Cooper Industries, a grid and equipment company by Eaton

·         $2.3 billion acquisition of smart meter company Elster by UK investment company Melrose

·         $72 million acquisition of ZigBee systems developer Ember by Silicon Labs

You can download a complete list of transactions in the smart grid sector on the Mercom site.

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