Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Oak Investment leads GreenVolt’s $30M Series B

By Mass High Tech Staff

Westport, Conn.-based Oak Investment Partners has invested $30 million in the second round funding of San Francisco solar power provider GreenVolts Inc. The Series B financing will help GreenVolts add more research and development, grow its capacity and support power delivery from its GV1 project, billed as “the world’s largest non-silicon concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) power plant.”

GreenVolt technology consists of mass production of solar energy via the company’s power plants. Working with Pacific Gas & Electric, the GV1 is scheduled to being power delivery at the end of 2008.

Oak Investment Partners, the 28-year-old venture capital firm, manages $8.4 billion primarily in the communications, Internet, information technology, clean energy, retails and health-care sectors. To date, the firm has funded more than 435 companies in various stages.

In June, the VC firm led a $20 million round of investment in Aurora Biofuels Inc., a developer of open-pond algae aquaculture technology located in Alameda, Calif.