TLDR:
- Active Surfaces, a flexible solar panel startup spun out from MIT, raised $5.6 million in pre-seed funding.
- The funding will enable the company to scale up production and bring its cutting-edge solar solutions to market more rapidly.
Active Surfaces, a startup specializing in innovative flexible solar panels spun out from MIT, has secured $5.6 million in pre-seed funding. The funding round was oversubscribed and led by Safar Partners, a significant deep tech venture capital fund. Other participants included QVT, Lendlease, Type One Ventures, Umami Capital, Sabanci Climate Ventures, New Climate Ventures, SeaX Ventures, among others, reflecting a diverse support base ranging from institutional VCs to corporate backers.
The company is focused on pioneering the next generation of solar technology with its lightweight, flexible solar panels that can be integrated into virtually any surface. Unlike traditional bulky solar panels, Active Surfaces’ technologies will seamlessly blend into everyday environments, from small consumer products to large commercial, office, and industrial buildings.
According to Richard Swartwout, the co-founder and CTO of Active Surfaces, the funding will allow the company to expand its research and development efforts, scale up production, and bring their advanced solar solutions to market more rapidly. The company’s flexible, thin film “solar 2.0” technologies are projected to deliver higher efficiency, lower costs, and greater versatility compared to current heavy, rigid solar panels.
Active Surfaces plans to scale its laboratory-fabricated photovoltaic devices with advancements in industrial roll-to-roll semiconductor printing technologies to enable mass production of thin, flexible solar materials of any size. The company has also strengthened its team with the addition of experts from institutions like Stanford University, Rice University, University of Pittsburgh, and MIT.
Active Surfaces is part of the Go Build startup accelerator program with Saint-Gobain through Greentown Labs and is supported by premier climate tech incubators such as Third Derivative, ACCEL, Swissnex Climate Collider, Cleantech Open, and Venture for ClimateTech. Co-founder Shiv Bhakta was recently featured in Forbes 30 Under 30 2024 in Energy, and advisor Moungi Bawendi, a Professor of Chemistry at MIT, was awarded a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2023.
In summary, Active Surfaces is on a mission to disrupt the traditional energy sector by making solar power ubiquitous and seamlessly integrated into everyday materials. The company’s cutting-edge technology and recent funding round position it well to drive innovation in the solar industry.
