Solaria, a California-based developer of solar energy panels, has extended its series D round by $10m, including an investment by French power company EDF.
Solaria closed the round at $55, excluding a new $10m loan facility from debt provider Western Technologies (WTI). Adams Street Partners, a US-based fund of funds, WTI and venture capital firm Cycad Group joined the series D round after its initial close at $45m in May. Last month, Enxco also participated in the final close with a small investment after signing a five-year global supply agreement under which Solaria will supply its solar module to the EDF Energies Nouvelles subsidiary.
David Kirkpatrick, vice president of solar development for Enxco, said: "Solaria’s technology promises an aggressive price/performance metric, focused on meeting increased demand from utilities, independent power producers, integrators and other energy providers."
Daniel Shugar, chief executive of Solaria, said: "We are accelerating production to meet strong demand for our new modules."
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, a Germany-based renewable energy technology provider, and Moser Baer, an India-based optical storage device maker, declined to invest more money in Solaria as part of the series D funding.