Enphase Energy, a US-based developer of renewable energy equipment part-owned by the corporate venturing fund of Nasdaq-listed Applied Materials, is raising $51.5m in venture funding only weeks after it filed for an initial public offering of up to $100m.
Enphase has raised $14m of a planned $51.5m round, the company said in a regulatory filing. Should the energy company be successful in its plans, it will have raised about $160m since the beginning of 2008.
Ahead of the latest capital raising, Applied Ventures, the corporate venturing fund of electronics company Applied Materials, owned 6.3% of Enphase having invested about $5.5m in its series B through to E rounds and $2.44m in a convertible loan earlier this month, according to the portfolio company’s regulatory filing.
The company has made it clear when it announced its listing plans that it needed additional cash long term, beyond the floatation proceeds. In its IPO filing (S-1 Form) on June 15, Enphase said: "Our existing cash and cash equivalents, excluding any proceeds from this offering, available credit facilities and cash flows from our operating activities, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months. However, we expect that ultimately we may need to raise additional capital to execute on our current or future business strategies." Enphase declined to comment as to whether the capital raising affects its IPO plans.
Enphase’s other main investors are venture capital firms Third Point Ventures (19.1%), Rockport Capital Partners (18.1%), Madrone Partners (14.8%), Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (7.7%) and Bay Partners (5.5%), based on the S-1.
In June last year, other, undisclosed, strategic investors joined Applied Ventures as part of a second close of a $63m investment round in Enphase led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
The second stage closed at $23m, with Applied Ventures part of the first $40m raised in March alongside VCs Bay Partners, Horizon Technology Finance, Bridge Bank, Third Point Ventures, RockPort Capital Partners and Madrone Capital Partners.
Enphase previously said it had raised $22.5m in May last year, $15m in September 2008 and $6.5m in January that year.
Investment banks Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch are co-lead underwriters of Enphase’s initial public offering for a company with a $21m net loss last year on $61m in revenue.