ESolar, a US-based solar energy company backed multiple corporate venturing units, has raised $12.8m from two undisclosed investors as part of a targeted $30m round, according to a regulatory filing.
In August 2011, the energy division of US-based industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) followed on from its licensing agreement with ESolar by making a strategic investment of up to $40m.
GE Energy signed the initial licensing agreement with ESolar in June, the terms of which enabled GE to incorporate ESolar’s tower-based solar technology into its own solar thermal power plants. GE said then it would also be making a strategic investment in ESolar but it is only now more precise figures have been announced.
GE is not the only large company to be a minority shareholder in eSolar. US-based power generation company NRG Energy invested $10m in February 2009 in conjunction with a similar agreement with ESolar and subsequently became a co-limited partner alongside GE in the $300m Energy Technology Ventures corporate venturing fund. The India-based wireless and clean-tech firm Acme followed suit in March, investing $30m in ESolar.
A previous round, in April 2008, saw Google’s philanthropic investment division, Google.org, joining venture capital firms Idealab and Oak Investment Partners in investing $130m in ESolar.