Soladigm raised a $30 million series C investment the company announced this morning. Founded in 2007, the company makes smart glass for green buildings that can change from clear to tinted automatically, in response to changes in light or temperature. Windows using this “electro-chromic” technology help building owners and operators reduce their heat, cooling and lighting costs, and energy consumption.
The market for green buildings is growing rapidly. According to research by McGraw Hill Construction:
Today, a third of all new nonresidential construction is green— a $54 billion market opportunity. In five years, nonresidential green building activity is expected to triple, representing $120 billion to $145 billion in new construction (40 to 48 percent of the nonresidential market) and $14 billion to $18 billion in major retrofit and renovation projects.
DBL Investors and Nano Dimension led the series C round in Soladigm, joined by General Electric (GE) Energy Financial Services, as well as earlier investors Khosla Ventures and Sigma Partners. Cynthia Ringo, Managing Partner at DBL Investors, joined Soladigm’s Board of Directors with the investment.
Last month, GE named Soladigm one of the first 12 winners of its Ecomagination Challenge, a $200 million innovation competition inviting entrepreneurs and students to share their best ideas on how to build the next-generation power grid.
In August 2010, the company announced plans to locate its primary manufacturing operations in Olive Branch, Mississippi, where it expects to create several hundred clean tech jobs. To facilitate the expensive factory build, the State of Mississippi provided the company a $40 million loan.
The series C round will help Soladigm build and launch its high-volume commercial operations and develop sales and marketing channels, according to a company statement.
Earlier this month, another maker of smart glass, Sage Electrochromics, drew an $80 million investment from Saint-Gobain, a construction materials manufacturer.
Soladigm is developing next-generation green building solutions with a global impact. By bringing together a world-class team and resources from the glass, optical coatings, and semiconductor industries, Soladigm is poised to deliver new and advanced performing products that significantly reduce energy use in buildings.
DBL Investors manages the Bay Area Equity Fund I, a $75 million venture capital fund. The DBL Investors team completed its spinout from JPMorgan in January of 2008 and has managed the Fund since inception. The Fund invests in companies that can deliver market-rate venture capital returns while enabling social, environmental and economic improvement in the San Francisco Bay Area’s low and moderate income neighborhoods. Investments are made in private, primarily mid-to-late stage growth companies across all industries, with a...
Khosla Ventures is a venture capital firm started in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems. The firm focuses on environmentally friendly technologies in addition to the traditional venture areas such as the Internet, computing, mobile and silicon technology arenas.
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