The capital included a $46m equity round backed by RWE, Engie, BASF and BNP Paribas, and took the solar film manufacturer's total financing to $160m.
Germany-based solar film developer Heliatek secured up to €80m ($89m) in financing today, including $46.8m in equity led by Innogy, a subsidiary of energy utility RWE.
The series D round included another Germany-headquartered utility, Engie, as well as another RWE unit, Innogy Venture Capital, chemicals producer BASF and financial services provider BNP Paribas.
The corporates were joined by Tudag, an investment affiliate of university TU Dresden, as well as CEE Group, Aqton, eCapital, Wellington Partners and corporate-backed venture capital fund High-Tech Gruenderfonds (HTGF).
Heliatek produces an ultra-light organic solar film called HeliaFilm that is less than 1mm thick, and which can generate energy on such surfaces as the roof of a car or the exterior of a building.
The capital will support the expansion of Heliatek’s manufacturing capacity over the next 18 months to the point where the company will be able to produce one million m² of HeliaFilm each year.
The equity funding was raised alongside $22.3m in debt financing from the multilateral European Investment Bank’s InnovFin – EU Finance for Innovators scheme and a grant of up to $20m from KETs Pilot Lines, an initiative overseen by the German state of Saxony and funded by European Regional Development Fund.
Heliatek has now accumulated approximately $160m in financing since it was founded in 2006, including $22.5m in a 2014 series C round led by Aqton that included BASF, Innogy Venture Capital, industrial product maker Robert Bosch, HTGF, Wellington Partners, eCapital and TGFS.
Bosch, RWE Innogy Ventures, Wellington Partners and BASF’s corporate venturing unit, BASF Venture Capital, had previously taken part in a $27m round for the company in 2009. Innogy increased its stake from 9% to 20% as part of the series D round, according to Reuters.
