Brite Hellas successfully completed its series A financing round for a total of €8,6mn. The proceeds are going to be used to finance a production facility for semi-transparent photovoltaics (Agri-PV) in the industrial area of the port of Patras, Greece.
New Energy Capital (NEC) was the lead investor. The European Innovation Council (EIC), Brace 4 Impact, and Deep Capital Group participated in the round.
Brite Hellas, based in Thessaloniki, Greece, is the world leader in nanomaterial coatings for glass. Brite’s patented technology has extensive industrial applications, such as Agri-PV systems and energy saving ‘smart glass’ for buildings.
Agri-PV enables the dual use of land for the production of both food and clean energy. It is a rapidly growing market on a global scale. Brite’s product, thanks to its advanced technology, contributes actively to the higher growth and productivity of underlying crops, in both greenhouses and open fields.
Nick Kanopoulos, founder and CEO of Brite Hellas, said:
“We are highly optimistic regarding the deployment of the Agri-PV production line to be built by the proceeds of this financing round. The line that combines the use of nanomaterials with conventional solar cells, is the first and only one worldwide”.
New Energy Capital (NEC), managed by New Energy Partners (NEP), is a Greek fund focused on energy transition investments, such as renewables, energy saving as well as applied new technologies in energy transition. NEC’s anchor investor in the Hellenic Bank for Development and Investment (HDBI) through its Debt Fund facility. Theodore Kiakidis, co-founding partner of NEP said: “we are particularly happy to have the opportunity to support Brite in their effort to play a leading role in the highly promising Agri-PV market, having in the back of our minds the enormous potential of their second line of products, in advanced stage of development, the energy saving ‘smart glass’ for buildings”.
About EIC Fund
The European Innovation Council Fund from the European Commission is an agnostic Fund: it invests across all technologies and verticals, and all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon Europe. It provides the investment component of the EIC Accelerator blended finance. The European Investment Bank acts as investment adviser to the EIC Fund.
The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies, bridging with and crowding in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding.
The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.
Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, said: “The EIC Fund has become a strong player in EU deep-tech investments. The unique financing approach through EIC, combining grants and equity, is attracting significant interest from Europe’s most promising start-ups and provides them with the means to develop and scale their businesses in Europe. Our investment will help Brite Hellas finance their production facility of semi-transparent photovoltaics that enable the dual use of land for the production of both food and clean energy.”
Brace 4 Impact invests internationally in agri-food, blue economy, circular economy, and decarbonisation technologies with scalable use cases and positive impact in the Greek economy. Spyros Poulios, Managing Director of Brace said: “Brite is a Greek company with a global technology edge in a rapidly growing market. This round of financing will allow Brite to scale internationally while establishing its production base in Greece”.
Deep Capital Group is managing a diversified investment portfolio, with special interest for direct investments in innovative, early-stage companies in the technology sector. Alexander Chatzopoulos, Chief of Strategy & External Affairs of the Group, said: “ investing in Brite reflects our Group’s philosophy to support companies with an international orientation both in terms of growth, as well as in addressing contemporary challenges for the society and the business world. ”.
