- Exeger — a Swedish company that produces Powerfoyle, a unique solar cell technology that transforms all forms of light into clean endless energy — announced recently that it has secured $20 million in debt financing. These are the details.
Exeger — a Swedish company that produces Powerfoyle, a unique solar cell technology that transforms all forms of light into clean endless energy — announced recently that it has secured $20 million in debt financing from Swedbank and Swedish Export Credit Corporation (SEK). And the company has also secured $18 million through a directed share issue to Ilija Batljan Invest AB. This will take Exeger’s total funding of this financing round to $38 million.
Exeger had entered its commercialization stage this year and has so far launched two revolutionary products powered by Powerfoyle: a self-powered bicycle helmet together with POC (in February) and a self-charging wireless headphone with Urbanista (in April). The solar cell material converts all forms of light, indoor or outdoor, into electrical energy — powering the devices into which it is integrated.
The new funding round will be used to build a second solar cell factory in Stockholm with a tenfold capacity by 2023. And t his is a milestone for Exeger which during the past 12 years have invented, developed and now produce Powerfoyle at their current manufacturing site on the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). The second factory is going to enable Exeger to target a broader array of markets sooner and in so doing accelerate the mass adoption of their Powerfoyle technology. And Exeger has applied for, and expects to obtain permits, from the relevant authorities before the end of the year.
The debt financing consists of a loan amounting to $12 million from Swedbank, which is partly underwritten by the Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN) under the guarantee of investment credits for companies with innovations. And SEK issued a loan amounting to $8 million, which is partly underwritten by the European Investment Fund (EIF).
KEY QUOTES:
“This is the year of our commercial breakthrough. The phenomenal response from the product releases with POC and Urbanista are clear indicators this is the perfect time to introduce self-powered products to the world. We need mass scale production to realize our vision which is to touch the lives of a billion people by 2030, and that’s why the factory is being built now. Swedbank, SEK, EKN, and Ilija Batljan all play key roles in providing us with the financial security to initialize the construction of a factory with a tenfold production capacity. It will enable us to provide our solar cell material to a much broader market and greatly accelerate this transition to a world where self-powered products become a natural part of everyday life.”
— Giovanni Fili, Founder and CEO of Exeger
“Sustainability is a core and integrated part of our business strategy – that’s why we have supported Exeger since the start. We look forward to being part of enabling the large-scale production of their solar cell material. This is in line with our vision of a society that is financially, socially and environmentally sustainable where we and our customers play an active role in acting and driving sustainable change.”
— Mikael Björknert, Head of Swedish Banking, Swedbank
“Exeger’s operations, through its groundbreaking solar cell technology and strong sustainability commitment, are in line with our ambition to support the export industry’s investments towards more sustainably produced energy. Exeger is a company that we predict will increase Swedish competitiveness and export going forward.”
— Jens Hedar, Head of Client Relations, SEK
