Solaria, a California-based developer of solar energy panels, has raised $45m in its fourth funding round but has seen a potential change in its corporate venturer backers.
Q-Cells, a Germany-based renewable energy technology provider that was previously one of Europe’s most successful venture capital-backed deals, and Moser Baer, an India-based optical storage device maker, declined to invest more money in Solaria as part of the series D funding.
US-based venture capital firms CMEA Capital and DBL Investors co-led the round. CMEA’s corporate partners include oil majors Exxon, Shell and Chevron.
The other new investors in Solaria’s D round were Mitsui Ventures, the venture arm of the Japanese bank, and Savitr Capital, which was formed in 2008 and is thought to be part of software company Savitr, although the group was unavailable to comment.
The return backers were VCs Sigma Partners and NGEN Partners, which has most of the world’s major glass companies in its funds, including Asahi Glass Company, Saint-Gobain and Bekaert.
Solaria had previously raised $72m in its series B and C rounds in 2006 and 2007 respectively, with Q-Cells increasing its non-controlling stake in Solaria to 33% from 12.4% between the two.
Q-Cells’ website said its stake had since fallen to 31.4% of Solaria but the firm declined to comment whether this was pre or post the series D.
The latest funding round follows Daniel Shugar joining Solaria as chief executive in January as the incumbent, Suvi Sharma, stepped up to be president, focusing on business development and strategy.
Shugar had previously been president of SunPower Systems, an $800m-revenue subsidiary of SunPower Corporation after it had acquired PowerLight.