French glass and construction materials company Saint-Gobain has invested $80m for a minority stake in Sage Electrochromics, a US-based maker of tinted windows.
US pension fund TIAA CREF also invested as part of the round, after advice from Barclays Bank.
The deal came a year after Saint-Gobain launched its consolidated advanced glazing division and its Quantum Glass brand but the intellectual property, manufacturing and research will now be down with Sage under a merged operation with more than 100 patents.
Sage will manufacture its dynamic glass for both companies’ product lines at its facilities in Minnesota where a factory is being built costing $135m. Two senior members of Saint-Gobain’s management team – Jean-Pierre Floris and Francois-Xavier Moser – will join Sage’s board.
Floris, senior vice-president of the innovative materials sector at Saint-Gobain, said: "This partnership marks the beginning of a new revolution in the glass industry for the habitat. We now offer advanced electrochromic glazing which is both environmentally friendly and competitively priced."
Earlier in the year, the US Department of Energy conditionally awarded Sage more than $72m in loan guarantees.
In February 2009, Sage raised $20m from Good Energies, the quasi-corporate venturing unit of the Brenninkmeijer family that owns retail chain C&A; Belgium-based materials group Bekaert; and Applied Ventures, the corporate venturing division of Applied Materials.
The three also financed Sage in the $16m series B round in July 2007.