Moser Baer-Backed SolFocus Raises $52 Million Funding From NEA, Others
Wed, 09/05/2007 - 06:12 — Sahad P V
US-based solar energy technology company SolFocus has raised $52 million (euro 38 million) in funding from venture capital funds and strategic investors. This includes $27.4 million (euro 20 million) in Series A financing for SolFocus Europe, and the balance as Series B financing for SolFocus, Inc.
Both the financings have been led by New Enterprise Associates (NEA), and joined by Moser Baer India, Ltd., David Gelbaum, Metasystem Group, NGEN Partners, Yellowstone Capital Inc., and others. SolFocus, in fact, is targeting to raise $70 million in venture capital, according to Venture Wire. They have done the first close at $52 million.
SolFocus raised $32 million in its Series A funding in mid-2006, which was also led by NEA, and joined by investors like Moser Baer Photo Voltaic, who had invested $7 million. SolFocus is a Palo Alto-based concentration photo voltaic company. SolFocus Europe is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.
As far as Moser Baer is concerned, SolFocus is one of the three investments it has made in the US in the solar energy space. It invested an undisclosed sum in Silicon Valley-based Stion Corporation, a company that develops photovoltaic cell technologies. This company, earlier called NStructures, had raised $3.15 million from Khosla Ventures and Braemar Energy.
Moser Baer also participated in a $22 million round in Solaria, another US based company that has developed a cheaper technology to produce solar cells. Moser Baer was joined by a group of investors which include Q-Cells, the second largest producer of silicon solar cells, and venture capital firms Sigma Partners and NGEN Partners.
