Virgin Green Fund, a clean technology investment affiliate of UK-based conglomerate Virgin, invested at least $31.9m in US-based solar company Solyndra, which last week said it was filing for Chapter 11 to make it the biggest corporate venturing group likely to be hit from its collapse.
The scale of Virgin’s investment, which came in Solyndra’s series C-1 and series C-2 funding rounds, was detailed in an initial public offering filing by Solyndra in 2009, for a proposed listing which never went ahead.
In total, Solyndra was the biggest recorded venture investment, according to news provider Fortune using Thomson Reuters data, and it was likely to be the biggest known venture loss, Fortune said, after it raised nearly $1bn in private equity financing. Virgin Green declined to comment.
The company has not yet revealed its Chapter 11 filing, but it is expected later this week.
Other big backers of Solyndra, besides Virgin Green, at the time of the proposed initial public offering, were the George Kaiser Family Foundation (35.7%), Madrone Partners (11%), US Venture Partners (10.2%), CMEA Ventures (6.8%) and Rockport Capital Partners (7.5%),
Virgin Green’s first fund raised $220m from various investors including US pension fund Calpers, according to data provider Preqin. It is unclear whether Virgin Green invested the entire $31.9m from the fund or how that fund is performing.
The news comes as Virgin Green is reportedly attempting to raise $300m for a second fund, according to news provider Buyouts magazine. Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin, which calls itself a "branded venture capital organisation", was expected to invest in the second fund, Buyouts said.
Virgin Green Fund was set up in 2007 with the backing of Virgin, the group still run by Sir Richard.