Solestial banks $17 million and welcomes new CEO

SAN FRANCISCO – Solar energy startup Solestial raised $17 million in Series A funding to expand manufacturing of silicon photovoltaics for space applications.

The Tempe, Arizona startup also announced May 15 that its campaign to scale up production to 1 megawatt annually will be led by new CEO Margo de Naray, former Astra senior vice president and general manager of space products and services.

De Naray joined Solestial because she saw strong product-market fit.

Solestial’s technology relies on silicon rather than gallium or rare-earth elements, reducing supply chain issues. In addition, Solestial photovoltaics are designed to anneal (or cure) solar cell radiation damage. And they require no cover glass, which improves flexibility and reduces mass, De Naray told SpaceNews.

Solestial photovoltaics have been delivered to dozens of customers and flown on five satellites. The company will begin producing solar cells “for multi-kilowatt satellite programs in the second half of the year,” De Naray said.

Tremendous Potential

AE Ventures led Solestial’s investment round. New and existing Solestial investors participating in the round included Crosscut Ventures, Zeon Ventures, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation’s ME Innovation Fund, Airbus Ventures, General Purpose Venture Capital, Industrious Ventures, Stellar Ventures and Techstars.

“Space solar is a critical bottleneck in a rapidly growing industry with an ever-expanding set of missions — from national security to lunar exploration,” AE Ventures partner Beckett Jackson said in a statement. “Solestial is uniquely positioned to serve spacecraft manufacturers with mass production of a lightweight, radiation-hardened solution at lower cost and a fraction of the lead time of the current standard.”

Airbus Ventures led Solestial’s 2022 seed round. Financial support for the Series A round reflects accelerating demand for this technology, Airbus Ventures partner Mat Costes said in a statement.

Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has worked with Solestial to co-develop solar power modules.   

“We see tremendous potential in Solestial’s technology and are pleased to deepen the relationship and support their development,” Komi Matsubara, Mitsubishi Electric business innovation vice president, said in a statement.

Leadership Transition

“We are thrilled to welcome Margo to lead Solestial into its next chapter,” Stan Herasimenka, Solestial co-founder and former CEO, said in a statement. “This transition allows me to continue developing our cutting-edge technology, while Margo brings additional strategic leadership and operational experience to deliver at scale.”

Prior to Astra, De Naray was a Cargill managing director and an Intel operations manager.