A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting startups in the energy storage sector globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – SOLAR ENERGY
- Sol Voltaics, a Swedish solar energy startup has raised $21.3M in funding for its nanowire technology for solar panels. Link
- Trine, a Sweden-based crowd-investment platform for solar energy projects, raises $7M in Series A funding. Link
- Nuance Energy, a developer of distributed ground-mount solar projects, has received a $3M investment from Tabuchi Electric. Link
- Brisbane Materials, a specialty materials developer has raised its Series B from investors that include Uniseed, NVP, Softbank China Venture Capital, etc. among others. Link
- Shoals Technologies Group, developer of solar electrical balance of systems, has raised funding from the funds managed by the Power Opportunities group of Oaktree Capital Management
- Acme Solar, a developer of large scale solar projects raise $11M of debt from Piramal Finance. Link
- Sunnova Energy raises $140M of debt funding led by the CIT Group. Link
- Heliene, a Solar PV module manufacturer, received $1.45M grant from the Sustainable Development Technology Canada. Link
- Mobisol, a rent-to-own solar company has acquired Lumeter, a pay-as-you-go software firm for the off-grid solar industry to build smart meters for its solar systems and mini-grid solutions. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Norfib (Trondheim, 2016) – Norfib has developed silicon solar cell threads in the size of the hair that is flexible to bend. The company claims that their solar cell threads can be embedded in a variety of substrates which gives any developer the option to choose an appropriate substrate which can be used to customise solar cell products for different applications with unique features. They also claim that their partially transparent product costs comparatively lower than other similar solutions.
LEADER BOARD – SOLAR ENERGY
Hardware Developer
SunPower (1985, Athens, IPO) – Designs and manufactures high-efficiency silicon solar cells and solar panels based on an all-back contact cell having all-black appearance. Went public in November, 2005.
BrightSource Energy (2004, Oakland, $805M) – Designs and builds large scale solar plants that deliver solar energy in the form of steam and/or electricity. Backed by Google, Morgan Stanley, DFJ among others.
Independent Power Producer
Silicon Ranch (2011, Nashville, $288M) – Integrated solar service provider focusing on developing utility-scale solar plants and offering turnkey Solar EPC services. Backed by Partners Group and Greystone.
Nippon Renewable Energy (2013, Tokyo, $250M) – Solar energy developer which manages and operates solar power facilities from the development and construction stages through to the operational stage. Backed by Equis Capital Partners and Partners Group.
Project Developers
Solairedirect (2006, Paris, $341M, Acq.) – Owns and operates solar farms as well as undertakes solar EPC contracts. The company has presence in France, India, America, Latin America among other countries. Backed by IADB, Capital Stage, Blackrock, Demeter Partners among other.
Brite Energy (2014, Romeoville, $264M) – Brite Energy offers solar installation services to residential and commercial spaces. The company is backed by Protection 1 (USA’s full-service security company) and co-owned by GTCR.
Solar-as-a-service
SolarCity (2006, San Mateo, IPO, Acq.) – Full-service solar provider for homeowners, businesses and government organizations. Backed by Bank of America, DFJ, SilverLake Partners etc., among others. IPO-ed in December 2012.
Sunnova (2010, Houston, $1.1B) – Integrated solar installation, finance, and solar leasing services. Backed by Triangle Peak Partners, Franklin Square Capital Partners etc., among others.
Solar Products
Envision Solar (2006, San Diego, IPO) – Designs and builds solar trees and solar powered parking structures. Went public in May 2010.
Petra Systems (2006, South Plainfield, $40M) – Company offers smart light controller, solar power generator, wireless networking, support for surveillance & sensor networks, network gateways and battery backup. Backed by ES Ventures, Element Partners etc., among others.
Solar Financing
Solarbao (2014, Shanghai, $40M) – Solarbao gives regular retail investors a chance to make low risk investments in solar power stations. Investors buy solar panels, lease them to solarbao.com.hk. When they sign the entrusted financial lease contract, the panels are installed in power stations, and fixed monthly returns are paid to the investors.
Software Solutions
Fat Spaniel (2003, San Jose, $28M, Acq.) – Independent provider of critical monitoring and reporting services for the renewable energy industry. The company’s solutions are utilized by solar power producers, financiers, system integrators, and OEMs.
Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
For latest updates, visit Solar Energy feed.