Solexant plans 100 MW assembly line for solar-ink panels, looks for $50M
Solexant, maker of photovoltaic panels with solar cells so thin that they are literally printed onto the panels’ surfaces, announced plans today for a 100-megawatt, commercial-scale panel assembly line — enough to provide power for as many as 800,000 homes. It says it will try to raise $50 million in a third round of funding to finance the project.
Right now, the San Jose, Calif. company is working on a much smaller 3-megawatt assembly line in… Continue Reading
Plextronics snaps up $14M for organic lighting, solar cells
Plextronics, a unique company developing organic solar cells and light emitting-diode displays — including television screens so flexible you can bend them — announced today that it’s brought in $14 million in second-round funding. The Pittsburgh company says it will use the money to continue research and spearhead manufacturing operations that will hopefully reach commercial scale.
Organic light emitting-diodes (OLED) include an extremely thin layer of organic compounds that are literally printed onto their surfaces. Because… Continue Reading
EnerG2 aims to improve ultracapacitors for electric cars, industry
EnerG2 Inc., an ultracapacitor startup that has kept quiet until now, is launching today with the official announcement that it has raised $8.5 million in its first round of financing. Founded in 2003, it has spent five years developing electrode materials that it claims can boost the performance of ultracapacitors, devices that are useful in electric cars and smaller electronic devices.
Unlike batteries, which store electricity chemically, ultracapacitors store energy as electrical fields and physically separate the… Continue Reading
EnerG2 raises $8.5M for energy storage materials
EnerG2, a Seattle, Wash. company making advanced materials for fuel and energy storage, has raised an $8.5 million round of funding, according to Xconomy.
Various nanomaterials that the company is working on could prove useful for holding methane, hydrogen and other fuels. Other new materials could also be useful for other alternative energy fields, like solar cells.
Initial work at EnerG2 was funded by state and Federal grants. This funding, the company’s first, was proided by OVP… Continue Reading
Firelake Capital Management raising $100M for cleantech investment
Although Firelake Capital was started to invest mainly in public cleantech companies, the firm has decided to open a new $100 million fund for private sector investments.
Managing director Martin Lagod told us that the firm’s focus on new technologies won’t change. Firelake is considering investments in energy distribution and generation, transportation, water and carbon mitigation technologies.
The firm’s original evergreen fund will no longer invest in the private sector, although it will maintain its position in… Continue Reading
Ruckus Wireless raises $7.5M more for IPTV router
Ruckus Wireless, a Sunnyvale, Calif. maker of a WiFi router for Internet television in the home, has raised $7.5 million in a fifth round of funding from existing investors, according to VentureWire (subscription required).
It also said it has signed a deal with Deutsch Telekom to offerwireless TV to its millions of customers in Germany.
The company has now raised about $39.5 million in venture funding, from Sequoia Capital, Investor Growth Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures, Motorola Ventures,… Continue Reading