The New England Energy Innovation Collaborative (NEEIC), a Cambridge, Mass.-based community of clean energy industry participants, has selected the winner of its $150K Business Creation Competition.
The first annual competition was formed to spur the creation and growth of energy business in New England, the organization says. NEEIC received more than 40 submissions, and after scaling those down to four finalists, the group selected StarSolar Corp. as the winner. StarSolar has created technology that can be used in solar cell manufacturing lines to substantially decrease the per-watt cost of manufacturing thin silicon solar cells. StarSolar says it will sell this technology directly to manufacturers or lease the technology to partners in pay-for-use arrangements.
StarSolar will receive a $100,000 initial investment from General Catalyst Partners, Advanced Technology Ventures and Atlas Venture, and more than $50,000 of in-kind professional services from New England firms, including public relations and legal services, and office space.
