Add Another Zero to OptiSolar’s Funding

When multiple investors fund a cleantech startup and everyone issues their own press release it easy to miss what’s really going on. But sometimes we find SEC filings that keep track of who’s funding what when. This morning we reported that OptiSolar, a Hayward, Calif.-based thin-film solar startup, had gotten $3 million from a Canadian private equity fund run by Kensington. But now we learn that OptiSolar raised over $38.3 million in venture funding at the end of January, according to an SEC filing.

Filed January 23, Kensington doesn’t appear by name among the reported 22 investors but it’s likely their announced funding is part of this round. The investor’s names that do appear include OptiSolar CEO Randy Goldstein, Chairman Geoffrey Cumming, VP Phil Rettger, Richardson Ventures, Gardiner Group Capital, all of whom are listed a “beneficial owners” meaning they have at least a 10 percent stake in the company’s equity. Also among the listed investors are Chief Scientist Marv Keshner, Alisa Gravitz, Andrew Ferrier and Robert Puchniak, who are all board members.

This bigger round makes sense for a company that plans to produce 90 MW of thin-film solar capacity in the next two years. We’re still waiting to hear back from OptiSolar on this funding as well as clarification on their technology.