University Of Washington Spin-Out BlueDot Photonics Raises $1 Million

By Amit Chowdhry ● May 28, 2021
  • BlueDot Photonics, a leader in perovskite materials that spun out of the University of Washington,  announced recently it raised $1 million. These are the details.

BlueDot Photonics — a leader in perovskite materials that spun out of the University of Washington — announced recently that it raised $1 million in its Series Seed financing. The round was led by VoLo Earth Ventures, an early-stage VC investing in the new energy economy through innovative products and technologies.

BlueDot Photonics had brought in over $1.5 million in non-dilutive grants and projects to the table to help the company towards its goal of creating gigaton reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through faster deployment of solar power. And BlueDot’s quantum-cutting technology can lower the cost of solar power by up to 10% by improving energy yield in solar panels by up to 16%.

For the long-term, BlueDot is committed to pushing solar panel efficiency and costs beyond the limits of current silicon technology. And other investors include Clean Energy Venture Group (CEVG) of Boston, MA, who helped with investment syndication, and E8 of Seattle, WA.

KEY QUOTES:

“The cost of solar has come down tremendously in the past two decades, making it cheaper than or competitive with most non-renewable energy generation in the US. Our investment in BlueDot and their quantum-cutting technology is really exciting as it will accelerate this downward solar cost trend by making solar even more efficient with minimal changes to the existing supply chain and manufacturing process.” He adds, “As a leader in perovskites, BlueDot is at the forefront of research and development in this exciting new field and their products will help make solar energy ubiquitous throughout our communities.”

— Kareem Dabbagh, Managing Partner of VoLo Earth Ventures

“Our collaboration with VoLo Earth and other investors will accelerate our prototyping cycles and shorten our time to market. We share a vision to harness more power from light for the pale blue dot of Earth.”

— Jared Silvia, CEO of BlueDot Photonics