Constellation Technology Ventures, a corporate venturing unit of energy company Exelon, has invested $42m alongside Shea Ventures, Rho Ventures and Prelude Ventures, in a series E round of funding for SolarBridge Technologies. The solar microconverter and monitoring technology company will use the proceeds of the funding to expand its sales and marketing capabilities in North America and Australia. The latest round of funding brings the company’s total funding to $105m, according to technology funding information site, CrunchBase.
Michael Smith, Constellation vice president and head of Constellation Technology Ventures, will join the SolarBridge Board of Directors.
“This round of funding underscores our position as the leader in AC module technology,” said Bill Mulligan, president and CEO of SolarBridge. “AC modules are changing the way distributed PV is sold, designed and installed.”
Constellation Technology Ventures’ Smith said, “Residential and small-scale commercial solar have experienced tremendous growth in the US and abroad. SolarBridge’s unique technology aligns with our growing distributed generation business. AC solar will be a significant contributor to further reducing the cost of solar and driving continued growth in the market.”
SolarBridge Technologies, formerly SmartSpark Energy Systems, was founded in 2004 to commercialize power electronics technologies created at the University of Illinois. In early 2009, they launched a new corporate strategy to focus exclusively on the solar industry with microinverter and monitoring solutions.
Other investors in the company include the US Department of Energy, Battery Ventures, The Texas Emerging Technology Fund, and Osage University Partners.