UK-listed oil group BP’s corporate venturing unit has joined the consortium investing $110m in Abound Solar, a US-based company developing solar panel modules that has now raised $260m in equity in three years.
Abound, formerly known as AVA Solar, has also closed $400m in loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy to expand its manufacturing to a second plant making thin-film solar photovoltaic modules (pictured).
Justin Adams, head of BP Alternative Energy Ventures, by email said: "The size of the round flatters our actual participation but it is an interesting company with a good technology – part of our longer term interst in the solar space."
Alongside BP Alternative Energy Ventures, the other new investor in the series C round was West Hill Companies, a family office in Wyoming.
The remaining consortium members, which had previously invested in Abound, were: Invus Group, a $4bn evergreen investment company backed by undisclosed European families through their Artal investment vehicle; Bohemian Companies, a family office in Colorado; and venture capital (VC) firms DCM and Technology Partners.
Abound was founded in 2007 after 15 years of development at Colorado State University and with support from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and raised $104m in its second round in August 2008.
John Hill, founder of VC firm Hill Carmen Ventures, said in 2007 when he was chairman and angel investor in the portfolio company’s seed round said: "AVA Solar is the most exciting startup I’ve been a part of in almost 30 years of investing in technology-based companies."