Wakonda Raises $9.5 Million for New Solar Cell Technology, Relocates to Medford

Published: July 16, 2008, 2:55 pm

Tags: boston, boston blog main, national blog main, vc, energy, solar, funding, startups, wakonda, wakonda technologies, ryne raffaelle, bill wiberg, advanced technology ventures, polaris ventures, general catalyst partners, applied ventures, massachusetts green energy fund, ro

VC, energy, Solar Wade Roush wrote: Rochester Institute of Technology spinoff Wakonda Technologies will use a $9.5 million Series A venture round announced today to pursue a new technique for manufacturing photovoltaic cells that are more efficient but cost less than mass-market solar cells. Backers for the startup, which is moving from New York state to Medford, MA, include Advanced Technology Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, the Massachusetts Green Energy Fund, and Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials. Wakonda was founded last year in upstate New York; co-founder and chief technology officer Ryne Raffaelle is the director of RIT’s NanoPower Research Lab. The company, which won a “Clean Energy Entrepreneur of the Year” award last November from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, hopes to build cells that can be incorporated into solar concentrators or rooftop

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