SunDensity closes on $2.5M in initial financing
SunDensity has closed on $2.5 million in initial financing led by Clean Energy Ventures, a venture capital firm funding early-stage climate-tech innovations. Luminate, Rochester Angel Network , LaunchNY, and Clean Energy Venture Group also participated in the round.
SunDensity, winner of Luminate NY, has developed Photonic Smart Coating technology that increases solar power output with additional applications in consumer electronics and architectural glass.
“As ubiquitous as solar energy is today, the sector has seen incremental improvements over the past two decades. SunDensity’s breakthrough technology brings a critical step-function increase in solar panel efficiency, further accelerating our transition to clean, renewable energy,” said Temple Fennell, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Clean Energy Ventures. “We are proud to invest in promising early-stage startups, such as SunDensity, that can be major enablers of the energy transition and have the potential to prevent more than 2.5 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions between now and 2050.”
SunDensity is the first company to focus on improving the photonics of solar modules. Its Photonic Smart Coating technology is designed to work with any solar module and complement existing anti-reflective coating technologies for a wide range of glass and materials manufacturers. The technology can also reduce energy consumption and improve the performance of consumer electronics displays and architectural glass in buildings.
SunDensity’s Photonic Smart Coating converts blue light that cannot be absorbed by solar panels into red light that can be readily converted into electricity. Applied underneath the glass in solar panels, the photonic coating has the potential to increase panel efficiency, enabling a 20 percent increase in power output for even the most efficient solar cells. SunDensity’s Photonic Smart Coating traps and transforms light through a special process, allowing manufacturers to apply this solar coating with widely available magnetron sputtering tools used throughout the architectural glass industry.
“Our Photonic Smart Coating technology is the only technology of its kind that focuses on disrupting the photonic side of solar modules, dramatically increasing the efficiency and decreasing the cost per watt of solar panels,” said Nish Sonwalkar (Sc. D. MIT), Founder of SunDensity and inventor of the PSC™ technology. “With this support from Clean Energy Ventures, whose knowledge of this space and vast energy network will help us scale this technology quickly, SunDensity will become an accelerant to renewable energy adoption globally.”
Chosen as the “Company of the Year,” at Luminate NY in September, SunDensity secured a $1 million investment from the Empire State Development’s Finger Lakes Forward Upstate Revitalization Initiative. The new funding will support the expansion of the SunDensity team, jumpstart its production, and accelerate partnerships with key industry players.