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Germany’s Heliatek GmbH,
a developer of organic solar cells, has raised $27 million in a second
round of financing led by the European venture capital fund Wellington
Partners.
The round also included industrial investor Bosch and the corporate venture capital investors RWE Innogy Ventures and BASF Venture Capital, the High-Tech-Gründerfonds, eCAPITAL Entrepreneurial Partners AG, the Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen Start-up GmbH & Co. KG and GP Bullhound Sidecar.
Heliatek, established in 2006 as a spinout from the Universities of Dresden and Ulm, will use the funding to build its first factory. The Dresden facility will produce flexible and lightweight (500 grams per square meter compared to the current average of 25 kilograms per square meter) PV modules on film substrate.
“We believe that truly break-through third-generation technologies that bring PV well beyond grid parity will be the success stories of the future, and we think Heliatek is excellently positioned to capture that opportunity,” explained Bart Markus, general partner of Wellington Partners.
Heliatek was advised on this round of financing by the leading European investment bank for technology companies GP Bullhound. Heliatek employs a total workforce of 30 people at its locations in Dresden and Ulm. Two strategic investors, BASF and Bosch, participated in an initial round of financing in June 2007, as did Wellington Partners.
