US-based specialist glass producer View raised $150m yesterday from investors including glass manufacturer Corning, one of the company’s existing backers.
The round also featured NZ Super Fund, the New Zealand sovereign wealth fund that invests on behalf of the country’s pensioners, private equity fund Madrone Capital Partners, and undisclosed additional investors.
The company had secured $28.7m of a proposed $75m round in January, and although reports two months later revealed the round had been raised to $100m, it appears to have nevertheless been heavily oversubscribed.
View, which was founded in 2007 as Soladigm, produces high-tech architectural glass it calls Dynamic Glass. The glass automatically tints depending on the light level outside, helping increase energy efficiency and maintaining the optimum level of light indoors.
Dynamic Glass has now been installed in more than 100 buildings across the US, with a further 100 being built. The capital will support the expansion of View’s manufacturing capabilities and general company growth.
View has now raised more than $510m in debt and equity, according to regulatory filings and press releases.
GE Energy Financial Services, a subsidiary of conglomerate General Electric, took part in a $40m series D round that closed in 2011, investing alongside DBL Investors, Nano Dimension, Khosla Ventures and Sigma Partners.
GE returned for a $60m round in 2013 that closed at $72.6m later the same year. Corning led that round, which included Khosla. View’s past investors also include cleantech venture capital firm Westly Group.
– Photo courtesy of View, Inc.