Solar cell developer Heliatek shines on with $27m in venture capital funding

Also participating in this round are Bosch, RWE Innogy Ventures, BASF Venture Capital, the High-Tech-Gründerfonds, eCAPITAL entrepreneurial Partners, the Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen and GP Bullhound Sidecar.

Heliatek will be utilising the new funding primarily to build an initial production facility in Dresden, Germany, the company said.

The company will be using its proprietary tandem technology to produce flexible and lightweight photovoltaic modules on a film substrate, at 500 grams per square metre.

“We believe that truly breakthrough third generation technologies that bring photovoltaic 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.

Formed in 2006 as a spin-off from the Universities of Dresden and Ulm, Heliatek develops organic solar cells incorporating its proprietary tandem technology from small molecule organic dyes that are chemically synthesised from hydrocarbons.

Heliatek’s CEO Dr Andreas Rückemann said, “With this new round of financing, we have now created an opportunity to take advantage of our technology edge in this forward-looking market in order to be one of the first suppliers to ramp up a production operation.”

Wellington Partners, who led this funding round, recently appointed Christian Reitberger as the sixth partner in the technology team to focus on extending Wellington Partners’ cleantech commitment.

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