Ecoppia, an Israel-based provider of solar panel cleaning technology that counts real estate developer CIM Group and insurance firm Harel Group as investors, launched its initial public offering yesterday.
The company said it had raised $82.5m from institutional investors through a now completed public tender that valued it at $300m. The offering is set to take place on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
Founded in 2013, Ecoppia produces robotic cleaning technology for solar photovoltaic modules, serving the grid-scale power generation market. Its automated systems do not use water and are calibrated for fixed-tilt installations.
Jean Scemama, chief executive of Ecoppia, said: “Ecoppia serves a rapidly growing global market, and has demonstrated strong technological supremacy in all our operational regions.
“It is expected that manual cleaning for large-scale solar sites will become irrelevant in the coming years. Ecoppia is best positioned to maintain our competitive advantage while expanding the variety of offered services to our tier-1 clients.”.
CIM bought $40m of Ecoppia shares in July this year, half through a direct investment in the company and half from undisclosed investors through a secondary share purchase, making it Ecoppia’s largest external investor.
Harel Group had joined investment firm Gandyr Group and private equity firms Swarth Group and Glenrock to provide $13m in funding for the company in 2017. Ecoppia co-founders Eran and Moshe Meller jointly held about 21% of its shares pre-IPO.
