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Innovalight Receives $5 Million in Financing

Innovalight

Innovalight, a Sunnyvale, CA-based developer of silicon-ink based solar cells and modules, has recently received $5 million of financing from Leader Ventures and Silicon Valley Bank.  Innovlight was founded in 2002 and has received investments from ARCH Venture Partners, Apax Partners, Convexa Capital, Harris & Harris Group, Scatec, Sevin Rosen Funds, and Triton Ventures.  Some background on the company is available in the following video:

"Innovalight pushes the envelope in the solar power industry with its proprietary technology," said Brian Best, managing director at Leader Ventures. "Their unique approach to building solar cells combined with an excellent management team makes Innovalight a very strong contender in this hot market."

"SVB is proud of Innovalight's success thus far — it has outstanding technology with outstanding leadership," said Joseph Restagno, senior relationship manager at Silicon Valley Bank. "It's exciting to, once again, have the opportunity to provide it the financial resources it needs to continue its growth."

"We are delighted to be working with Leader Ventures and SVB, especially during these turbulent financial times," said Christina Teng, Director of Finance for Innovalight. "As we develop and showcase our innovative solar cell technology, continued financial support is a key in being able to deliver upon our promises of providing low-cost solar products into the market."

For more information:

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Three Venture Capital Firms Selected for U.S. Department of Energy “Entrepreneur in Residence” Program

U.S. Department of Energy

On February 27, 2008,  U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Alexander Karsner announced the selection of three venture capital firms to participate in the pilot of DOE’s new Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) program. 

The EIR pilot program will place three entrepreneurs (one selected and sponsored by each of the three participating venture capital firms) into three DOE National Laboratories to help bring promising new clean energy technologies developed by these laboratories to market.  Among their activities, the entrepreneurs will conduct technology assessments, evaluate market opportunities, and develop business cases.  The DOE is providing up to $100,000 for each entrepreneur to help defray salary and other expenses and each participating VC firm will match the DOE funding and may contribute additional funds to support its entrepreneur’s work.

Once a laboratory-developed technology is identified for commercialization, the entrepreneurs and their VC sponsors will negotiate with the DOE to license the technology.  It is intended that the VC sponsors will eventually form and finance a start-up company to commercialize the licensed clean energy technologies.

The three VC firms selected to participate in the EIR pilot program (and the associated DOE National Laboratory that their entreprenuer will work with) are as follows:

For more information: