Konarka, a US-based solar company part-founded by Nobel prize winner Alan Heeger and backed by energy groups Total and Chevron as well as Japan-based imaging company Konica Minolta,, has filed for bankruptcy protection.
Howard Berke, executive chairman of Konarka, said: "Konarka has been unable to obtain additional financing, and given its current financial condition, it is unable to continue operations. This is a tragedy for Konarka’s shareholders and employees and for the development of alternative energy in the United States." Heeger, who co-founded the company with Berke in 2001, won the Nobel prize for chemistry in 2000 for his work on conductive polymers.
Konarka has more than 100 patents.
It has raised more than $170m in venture funding and $20m in government research grants. It employs more than 80 people.
The company’s other investors are investment firm Mackenzie Investments and state investment body Massachusetts Technology Collaborative as well as venture firms New Enterprise Associates, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Good Energies, Partech International, Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, and Vanguard Ventures.