Solar Funding: SolFocus Raises $52M

from Earth2Tech by Katie Fehrenbacher

SolFocus, a Mountain View, Calif. based startup that develops solar concentrator technology said this morning that it has closed $52 million in funding, which included a $27.4 million series A for SolFocus Europe. The rounds were led by New Enterprise Associates , and included Moser Baer India, David Gelbaum, Metasystem Group, NGEN Partners, and Yellowstone Capital , among others. (Update: The company adds that it is expecting to expand the round to $70 million by the end of September.)

Investors have been stuffing money into all kinds of solar startups recently. Last week Solarcentury, which supplies solar photovoltaic systems raised $27.2 million, while Solexant, which is developing efficient, low-cost solar cells, raised $4.3 million. Also last week Plextronics raised $20.6 million for its organic semiconductors, which can be used for thin film solar applications. This weekend it was reported that solar startup Sierra Nevada Solar raised $4.5 million in Series A funding.

Last time we wrote about SolFocus was when they bought Madrid-based solar tracking company InSpira at the end of July. The company told us then that they have been raising money to grow fast and commercialize their technology by the end of this year. The company previously raised $32 million in venture money and has roughly 60 employees.

SolFocus' concentrating technology uses lenses and curved mirrors to concentrate sunlight onto solar cells. Its arrays are mounted on trackers that orient panels to track the sun in order to maximize the power output throughout the day.