LONDON — Heliatek GmbH (Dresden, Germany), a startup developing organic solar cells, has raised $27 million in a second round of financing, with which it plans to build a manufacturing facility.
The round is led by Wellington Partners. Other participants include: Robert Bosch, RWE Innogy Ventures, BASF Venture Capital, the High-Tech-Gruenderfonds, E-Capital Entrepreneurial Partners AG, the Technologiegruenderfonds Sachsen Start-up GmbH & Co. KG and GP Bullhound Sidecar.
The latest funding earmarked for building an initial production facility in Dresden. The company will be using its technology to produce, flexible photovoltaic modules on a film substrate. The solar cells weigh 500 grams per square meter, instead of today's customary 20-kg per square meter for silicon-based solar cells.
Formed in 2006 as a spin-off from the Universities of Dresden and Ulm, Heliatek develops organic solar cells from small molecule organic dyes that are chemically synthesized from hydrocarbons. In August 2009, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems certified a power conversion efficiency of 6.1 percent for a solar cell of this type from Heliatek.
"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," said Bart Markus, general partner of Wellington Partners, in a statement issued by Heliatek.
Related links and articles:
www.heliatek.com
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