Investors demonstrate faith in smart glass window technology and invest $30 million in Soladigm.
Soladigm, a start-up founded in the Silicon Valley in 2009, announced last week that it had received $30 million in a third round of investing and plans to move forward with the manufacture of self-tinting windows composed of smart glass. Notable investors in the project include General Electric, Sigma Partners, and Khosla Ventures.
The smart glass in the self-tinting windows darkens when an electrical current is applied through wires built into the windows. According to Soladigm CEO Ralph Mulpuri, the smart glass windows can save 25% on cooling and heating costs while reducing a building's need for peak-time heat by 30%. The smart glass windows are being marketed primarily to commercial building owners. Production will begin at Soladigm's plant in Olive Branch, Mississippi by the end of 2011, and the windows will begin shipping in 2012.
Companies have been trying to sell windows made of smart glass since 1989, but issues with cost, reliability, and logistics hampered sales and made the windows impractical to install and to use. Mulpuri asserts that Soladigm's new smart glass windows have overcome many of these problems using new technology developed in the semiconductor market.
Thus far, investors seem to have faith in Soladigm and in the future of smart glass windows as a new tool for making buildings more energy efficient. Sage, another company producing smart glass windows, recently raised $80 million and is planning to build a plant in Minnesota to manufacture the windows.
