GE shines brighter light on SolarEdge, joins $23 million funding round

NISKAYUNA & HERZLIYA, ISRAEL:SolarEdge, whose technology increases solar power systems’ output by up to 25 percent, announced that GE unit -- GE Energy Financial Services -- has joined a $23 million funding round to support growth in residential and large-scale photovoltaic sites.

SolarEdge’s other investors are US venture capital leaders Opus Capital and Walden International, the Israeli funds Genesis Partners and Vertex Venture Capital, and the Singaporean fund JP Capital Asia.

The funding—GE Energy Financial Services’ first investment in Israel—was announced at GE Global Research, GE’s research and technology development center in Niskayuna, New York, during a media forum on clean tech venture capital investing.

“We will use this financing to further promote our solar power harvesting system, which can be embedded in practically all types of solar photovoltaic panels to maximize power generation while dramatically reducing costs,” said Guy Sella, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of SolarEdge. “By partnering with GE, we benefit from the company’s proven R&D capabilities, energy technology expertise and deep commercial market reach.”

SolarEdge provides holistic photovoltaic power harvesting and monitoring technology to maximize the energy output and cost efficiency of solar PV units. The company works with industry-leading partners such as BP Solar and Schott Solar, Isofoton, HaWi Energitechnik, Gehrlicher solar and many others to embed its technology into photovoltaic panels to increase their power output by up to 25 percent and provide superior monitoring and control, without increasing costs.

GE Global Research provided a technical, hands-on perspective to GE Energy Financial Services as it considered this investment.

“Our investment in SolarEdge reflects our confidence in the company’s ability to thrive in the growing global solar industry,” Alex Urquhart, President and CEO of GE Energy Financial Services, said at the GE venture capital media forum. “SolarEdge is a smart company, with smart technology that fits well with GE’s ecomagination program to help customers meet their environmental challenges. We view this investment as the beginning of a broader collaboration between GE and SolarEdge that could include joint product development and distribution.”

Details of each investor’s contribution to the equity financing were not disclosed.

With offices in Boston, Stamford, CT, San Francisco, and Munich, Germany, GE Energy Financial Services’ venture capital team has invested in 20 early- and growth-stage energy- and water-related technology companies since January 2006, making it one of the most active energy technology venture capital investors globally.