ACapital leads €5.2m round for Sunpartner

According to an unquote" source, ACapital provided roughly half of the €5.2m equity ticket, while Sunpartner's existing investors contributed the rest.

The firm, which will join Sunpartner's executive board, financed its contribution via its ACapital China-Outbound fund. Including Sunpartner, the fund has deployed more than 80% of its capital via four investments, including French holiday resort operator Club Méditerranée and professional social network Viadeo; the latter received a €5m injection in June 2014.

After its latest round, Sunpartner will speed up commercial deployment of its flagship product Wysips Glass, a semi-transparent photovoltaic compound placed over windows to filter incoming sunlight.

Over the next few years, the business will look to make an impact on the smart glazing segment worldwide, expected to grow from $88m in business in 2013 to more than $3bn by 2022.

Asia will be a key market for the company in the coming months, with plans to generate 50% of its 2016 turnover in Japan via partnerships with corporates NTT Docomo and Kyocera. In addition, work is underway to launch its products in China, where Sunpartner operates a Shenzhen office, by Q3 2016.

Previous funding
According to unquote" data, Sunpartner first received a €1.9m capital injection from Eurowatt Partenaire, Starquest Capital, CPG Finance, Financière Bosc Ary and Turenne Capital Partenaires in July 2012.

This was followed by a €9.8m round that Sunpartner received via two tranches: a first €3.1m injection from Starquest, Eurowatt, Davanière Capital, Crédit Agricole and Gravitation, completed with a €6.7m extension from the aforementioned investors and new backer Sigma Gestion in April 2014. At the time, the company revealed its founding managers still controlled 70% of its capital structure.

In June 2015, Sunpartner secured a further €8.8m from Belgian family office Lac International and the venture capital arm of Japanese corporate NTT, among others. The round, which reportedly doubled the company's initial €4m target size, was invested to boost production of a number of components of its Wysips product line.

Company
Founded in 2008, Sunpartner develops photovoltaic components incorporated in windows and other surfaces for light-control purposes. Headquartered in Aix-en-Provence, the business currently employs 53 people worldwide, with ongoing operations in Japan, China and Taiwan.

People
ACapital – Andre Loesekrug-Pietri (CEO).
Sunpartner Technologies – Ludovic Deblois (CEO).

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