Participated · Grant · Oct 2025

California-based SirenOpt is developing PlasmaSens, a manufacturing intelligence system that pairs cold atmospheric plasma sensing with machine-learning analytics to detect defects and material inconsistencies in real time. The platform integrates into both roll-to-roll and piece-to-piece production lines, providing micron-level resolution and actionable feedback that can boost yields, cut waste, and shorten product-development cycles. Initial target markets include battery electrode fabrication, aerospace composites, semiconductors, power-generation components, and automotive parts. The company has seen strong early interest from blue-chip customers and plans to complete its first full inline factory deployments in 2026. To speed commercialization, SirenOpt is expanding its engineering, product, and commercial teams and broadening pilot programs across the US, Europe, and Asia. Financially, the firm just secured a $6.5 million equity round and recently won a $2.4 million grant from the California Energy Commission to tailor PlasmaSens for battery-electrode manufacturing.

Led · Grant · Jul 2025

Tandem PV builds perovskite-silicon tandem solar panels that stack a thin perovskite layer atop conventional silicon cells to increase power output and lower costs. Its panels currently achieve about 28% efficiency and are reported to be roughly 30% more powerful than average silicon panels. The company emphasizes durability and scalability, citing lab results that project decades-worth of stability and plans for extensive third-party testing in real-world conditions. Tandem PV is expanding domestic manufacturing to support U.S. clean-energy leadership, supply-chain resilience, and lower costs. The recent CEC grant will fund independent validation of long-term durability, environmental resilience, and energy yield to accelerate commercial readiness. To date the company has combined venture, debt, and government funding to advance manufacturing and commercialization efforts. Tandem PV develops perovskite-based tandem solar panels that combine industry-leading durability and efficiency for broad-scale deployment. Its panels currently achieve 28% efficiency and are projected to surpass 30% by late 2025, about 30% more powerful than the average silicon panel. The company’s perovskite layer is roughly 200 times thinner than silicon and its production reportedly requires just 10% of the energy of conventional panels, lowering production energy, labor, and land costs. Tandem PV plans to build a commercial-scale U.S. manufacturing facility to accelerate commercialization and re-establish domestic solar manufacturing leadership. Industry reports project perovskite modules will reach gigawatt-scale production by 2028, positioning the company to scale with existing silicon infrastructure. Financially, Tandem PV has raised a total of $83 million in venture capital, debt, and government funds to date. Tandem PV develops thin-film perovskite layers stacked on conventional silicon cells to produce higher-efficiency tandem solar panels. The company is currently producing tandem panels with roughly 26% efficiency, about 25% more powerful than typical silicon panels, and claims potential designs up to 40% more powerful than today’s panels. More power at similar price-per-watt is positioned to lower installation labor, land-acquisition costs, and total cost of ownership for customers. Tandem PV has demonstrated the equivalent of decades of projected durability in lab testing and plans independent industry-standard validation of efficiency and durability in 2024. Research and development continue alongside plans for a first manufacturing facility to enable broader deployment. The company emphasizes commercializing durable, highly efficient perovskite-based panels for large-scale adoption. Tandem PV designs tandem perovskite-on-silicon solar panels that boost the output of conventional silicon cells by stacking thin-film perovskite materials. The company is producing panels with about 26% efficiency, roughly 25% higher output than average silicon panels, and reports lab-demonstrated durability equivalent to decades. Tandem PV plans to obtain independent industry-standard validation of efficiency and durability during 2024 and to bring customer agreements to begin building its first manufacturing facility. The company is led by CEO Scott Wharton, who joined last summer to accelerate commercialization. Tandem has raised venture and government funding to support R&D and scale-up activities. Tandem PV specialises in ultra-high-efficiency tandem metal-halide perovskite solar panels that convert conventional silicon modules into higher-efficiency tandems via a perovskite-coated front glass drop-in replacement. The company plans to manufacture its first commercial-grade tandem solar panels to provide more efficient and affordable solar energy to customers. It will use the recent financing to build a pilot manufacturing facility at its San Jose, California headquarters. Tandem PV says it has strong market pull from residential solar installers, end users, equipment distributors and utilities. The company was co-founded by materials science PhD Colin Bailie, who developed the design at Stanford, and Chris Eberspacher, former CTO of Hanwha Solar. The move into pilot production is positioned as the next step toward demonstrating and commercialising its perovskite-silicon tandem technology.

Led · Grant · Oct 2024

Sepion Technologies develops ultra-thin, drop-in polymer separator coatings and membrane technologies intended to replace legacy ceramic materials in lithium-ion batteries. Its coatings aim to enable higher energy density, faster charging, and improved durability without requiring changes to existing battery manufacturing lines. The company reports its products are currently being manufactured on commercial production lines to support customer qualification with leading global battery manufacturers. Sepion is supporting multiple concurrent qualification programs for electric vehicle, energy storage system, and consumer electronics applications. Led by CEO Peter Frischmann and based in Alameda, CA, the company plans to use recent funding to scale U.S.-based polymer production, expand product lines, and strengthen quality and operations.

Led · Grant · Feb 2024

ev.energy is a British company that builds smart charging software for electric vehicles. It has secured a $41 million grant from California to roll out subsidised smart charging programmes targeted at poorer communities and to help balance the state’s energy grid. Under the California Energy Commission's REDWDS programme, ev.energy will begin deploying services in April to around 275,000 Californians. The platform enables EV owners to charge during off-peak times when electricity is cheapest. These measures are intended to ease strain on the grid and address utilities' concerns about clustered, peak-time EV charging. CEO Nick Woolley highlighted that the grid can become very stressed and utilities are worried about EVs charging at peak times. EV.energy builds a software platform that tells drivers, EVs and chargers when and where to charge to flatten electricity demand and reduce utility grid upgrades. Its customers are primarily utilities, and the company integrates incentives like rebates, lower rates and rewards to convince drivers to participate. EV.energy partners with utilities (including ConEd and National Grid), charger manufacturers such as Siemens and Maxeon, and automakers including Volkswagen to get access to chargers and vehicles. Today the platform covers about 120,000 EVs that can be switched on or off based on utility signals, and the company relies on models developed from millions of charging sessions to optimize control. Financially, EV.energy announced a $33 million Series B this week, led by National Grid Partners. Management plans to extend the product to support vehicle-to-grid (V2G) and vehicle-to-X (V2X) connections so EVs can send power back to the grid or power home devices. ev.energy offers an end-to-end software platform that wirelessly connects to a range of electric vehicles and L2 chargers and intelligently manages EV charging in line with utility and network signals. The platform engages and rewards customers through a mobile app while integrating utility signals to optimize load. The company serves a global base of utility customers, including National Grid, Southern Company, E.ON Energy, UK Power Networks and AusNet, and manages hundreds of megawatts of EV load on its platform each day. Led by CEO Nick Woolley, ev.energy is a Certified B Corporation® with a stated mission to make EV charging greener, cheaper, and smarter. The company intends to use new funding to scale its platform to additional partners and to build capabilities and products that intelligently manage EV charging. ev.energy is a UK software platform that manages and optimises residential electric vehicle charging via a cloud-based app and a proprietary smart-charging algorithm. The platform integrates with popular home chargers and vehicle manufacturers (including Tesla and Volkswagen) and hardware providers such as Siemens and Rolec. It aggregates vehicles into a virtual power plant that utilities can use to optimise wholesale costs, reduce grid congestion and integrate more renewable energy. The algorithm typically reduces carbon emissions from grid electricity by 10–20% depending on location, and a solar-matching feature can push home-solar users' charging emissions to zero. ev.energy is used by over 20,000 drivers and multiple energy companies and vehicle manufacturers, including E.ON, Volkswagen, ESB and Silicon Valley Clean Energy, and partners with Siemens and Schneider Electric. The company says it is the largest platform focused on residential charging and plans to scale across energy utility partners, car manufacturers, charger partners and drivers in the USA, Europe, Asia and Australasia. It recently closed a funding round to accelerate its global roll-out.

Led · Grant · Jan 2024

ZeroAvia is an Everett-based sustainable aviation startup building hydrogen-electric airplane engines designed to eliminate carbon emissions from regional flight. The company’s core product replaces conventional jet fuel propulsion with hydrogen fuel cell powertrains. Its engineering roadmap focuses on certifying these engines for commercial use in small regional aircraft. ZeroAvia continues to refine its technology through ground and flight testing programs. The startup recently secured additional capital to support these efforts. Management stated that the new funds will extend the firm’s operating runway for roughly two years, underscoring the importance of continued investment as it advances toward commercialization.