NexWafe Raises €10M in Series B Funding

NexWafe GmbH, a Freiburg, Germany-based maker of monocrystalline silicon wafers, raised €10m in Series B funding.

Investors included Fraunhofer, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, GAP Technology Holding, Lynwood Schweiz AG and Bantina Invest Limited.

The company intends to use the funds to With this additional cash infusion, NexWafe will move forward with further industrialization of its EpiNex™ green high-efficiency solar wafer technology and begin its pilot manufacturing activities. As the company moves into its next stage, it is also intensifying discussions with potential partners to commercialize the technology.

Led by CEO Davor Sutija, NexWafe makes makes high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon wafers called EpiWafers, which provide solar panel manufacturers with higher efficiency and yield at a lower cost of traditional monocrystalline Cz-Si, all without having to retool their production lines.

The company’s technology also allows for production of ultra-thin wafers, already demonstrated in its pilot line in Freiburg, providing a roadmap to next-generation ultra-thin and tandem architectures.

NexWafe, which has qualification shipments planned to start in 2021 and plans to raise further capital to support that activity, also announced that Peter Pauli will step down as Chairman of the Board of Directors to devote more time to other commitments.

Bart Markus, a member of the Board of Directors of NexWafe since 2019, succeeds Mr. Pauli as Chairman. He brings more than two decades of experience as a serial entrepreneur and investor in high technology and holds an MSc in Applied Physics from the Twente University of Technology and an MBA with distinction from INSEAD.

FinSMEs

08/02/2021