- 5
- October
2021
Roofit.solar raises €7.85M Series A led by BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures
The Tesla solar roof now has a strong competitor in Europe. Today, Roofit.solar announces its €7.85M Series A (€6.4M new capital and €1.45M converted loans) led by BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures and supported by an outstanding group of Estonian co-investors. The co-investor syndicate includes the family office of Priit Piilmann (largest shareholder of Viru Keemia Grupp), Taavet Hinrikus (Co-founder of Wise, recently listed on LSE) and Sten Tamkivi (ex-General Manager at Skype Estonia), Spring Capital and Helmes Investments. We’re super happy about this transaction because Ecosummit advised the 3 co-founders of Roofit.solar during the 9-month fundraising process and successfully introduced the German lead investor BayWa r.e. Energy Ventures, the main piece in the Series A puzzle.
Read more- 25
- September
2016
Heliatek raises €80M Series D to increase production capacity by a factor of 40
Capital-intensive smart green startups in Europe aiming at building their own hardware factories have a hard time fundraising. Financially motivated VCs require capital efficiency and prefer hardware startups that outsource manufacturing and the necessary CAPEX. Financing new PV factories in Europe is even more difficult due to China’s hegemony. It turns out it can only be done if you develop the next generation of PV technology, continuously improve efficiency and work diligently on building a co-investor syndicate of family offices, corporates and governments. Keep in mind that it was the Chinese government that backed a myriad of Chinese manufacturers to hijack the global PV industry. After a very long fundraising journey, 10-year old Organic Photovoltaics (OPV) pioneer Heliatek finally found the capital to build its second 3G solar factory in Dresden, Germany’s epicentre of photonics and organic semiconductors.
Read more- 15
- February
2015
Alexandre Askmo pitches Exeger
Ecosummit TV: Alexandre Askmo pitches Exeger at ECO14 Berlin. Exeger is the most-advanced developer of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) that have been invented by Professor Michael Grätzel in 1991. The Stockholm-based startup was founded in 2009, raised more than $30M and is supported by the Swedish Energy Agency. In 2014, Exeger inaugurated the world’s largest DSC factory that uses screen printing in the city centre of Stockholm. Dye-sensitzed solar cells are less sensitive to light angle and provide stable efficiency in all light and temperature conditions. As DSCs can be designed in any colour and printed on any shape a lot of applications are possible including consumer electronics, wearable devices and building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). Exeger works on commercial prototyping this year and plans its commercial launch in 2016 for which they are fundraising another $10-20M.
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