Another solar company, Konarka, slips — now seeking $40M

June 28, 2007 | Matt Marshall

We wrote recently about several solar companies that had slipped in their timing to deliver new solar power technologies.

Konarka, a Lowell, Mass. company, is the latest example suggesting delay. The company uses organic plastics to create low-cost solar cells, has worked away for six years, chomped through $80 million, and has yet to produce its first commercial prototype. Now it is seeking $40 million in late-stage financing, according to VentureWire (subscription required).

In a statement earlier this week, it said chief executive Howard Berke was stepping down, to become executive chairman, while he joins a separate energy investment firm Good Energies, one of Konarka’s venture backers. President and Chief Operating Officer Rick Hess takes over as chief executive.

Backers include 3i, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Good Energies, New Enterprise Associates, Partech International, Good Energies, Vanguard Ventures and Chevron Technology Ventures.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.