Innovalight has raised $28 million in new capital in a series C round
that will enable the company to move to a 30,000 square foot
manufacturing facility in Silicon Valley in advance of plans to start
volume production of its novel silicon ink-based printed flexible
thin-film solar cell technology.
“Innovalight is developing a very attractive approach to lower the
costs of conventional solar energy,” said Bjørge Gretland, Managing
Partner for Convexa Capital who joins the board of Innovalight. “The
company’s silicon ink process to make cheaper solar cells offers huge
potential to help accelerate growth in the overall solar market.”
The
investment round was led by Norway-based investor, Convexa Capital and
supported by Scatec AS. Existing investors Apax Partners, ARCH Venture
Partners, Harris & Harris Group, Sevin Rosen Funds and Triton
Ventures also participated in this financing.
Innovalight has
claimed that its liquid silicon process has the potential to reduce the
cost of solar cells by more than 50 percent once in mass production.
The company has said that it expects production to commence in 2009.