Sol Voltaics Raises $21.3 Million

Alternative energy startup Sol Voltaics closed $21.3 million in financing. Four investors contributed to the round: Watrium AS, Nordic Ventures, Teknoinvest, and Nano Future Invest.

Sol Voltaics improves the efficiency of solar energy capture, generation, and storage through the use of nanomaterials. The fast-growing company has a strong intellectual property portfolio, and it is developing a high-volume production platform for its patented Aerotaxy nanowire thin-film process, which will dramatically improve the efficiency of conventional solar modules while maintaining competitive pricing.

The company made a major technological breakthrough with the successful alignment of gallium-arsenide nanowires in a thin film. When integrated in a tandem-junction architecture on mainstream crystalline silicon panels, Sol Voltaics’ nanomaterials innovations will enable photovoltaic (PV) module efficiencies of well over 27 percent — representing an enhancement of more than 50 percent in energy generation compared to today’s solar panels.

In its announcement, the company said the new financing will be used to accelerate commercialization of its solar efficiency boosting technology, solfilm, which promises to increase conventional solar panel efficiencies by up to 50%.