University of Oxford's solar cell technology developer Oxford PV has closed a series D round featuring Meyer Burger, Equinor and Legal & General at $81.8m.

Oxford PV, a UK-based solar cell technology spinout of University of Oxford, completed a £65m ($81.8m) series D round on Wednesday after adding £34m from investors including solar semiconductor technology producer Meyer Burger. Meyer Burger, which made its investment in March this year to take an 18% stake in the company, was joined by undisclosed new and existing investors. Wind turbine producer Goldwind led the $41m first tranche, also in March, investing together with oil and gas supplier Equinor and Legal & General Capital, insurance firm Legal & General’s corporate venture capital arm. Founded in 2010, Oxford PV produces a thin film made of perovskite, a mineral that gives solar cells a larger theoretical efficiency limit than traditional silicon-only cells. In addition to its direct investment, Meyer Burger is also installing a customised production line at Oxford PV’s Germany site that will begin manufacturing perovskite-on-silicon cells from next year. The technology is based on work conducted by Prof Henry Snaith, who leads the Photovolatic and Optoelectronic Device Group in the Department of Physics at University of Oxford. Snaith co-founded the spinout with serial entrepreneur Kevin Arthur, who served as founding chief executive until he was replaced by Frank Averdung in 2015. Averdung said: “The success of our funding round and the quality of the new investors we have attracted, validates the commercial readiness of our technology. We now have the funds to move into manufacturing and accelerate market introduction. “The production line we are installing in Germany, to manufacture perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cells, will be the first of its kind anywhere in the world. This is a significant moment for Oxford PV and our perovskite photovoltaic technology.” Oxford PV had raised approximately $77m in debt and equity financing prior to the series D round, closing a $20.9m series C round in 2016 featuring Legal & General Capital and Statoil Energy Ventures, Equinor’s corporate VC unit prior to its rebranding from Statoil. The same two investors provided $11.2m of funding for the company in April 2018. Its earlier backers include University of Oxford and Parkwalk Advisors, the fund management arm of commercialisation firm IP Group, as well as MTI Partners, Longwall Venture Partners and European Investment Bank, which provided $15.6m of debt financing in 2017. – A version of this article first appeared on our sister site, Global Corporate Venturing.

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