One that Got Away

Former Austin start-up nets big money

Originally founded in Austin in 2002 with backing from Sevin Rosen and ARCH Ventures, Innovalight Inc. has just raised $28 million to bring its new clean energy technology to market. In early 2005, the company moved from Austin to Minneapolis, Minn., stayed a year, and moved to Santa Clara, Calif. (close to home for the firm's CEO Conrad Burke), and is finally making settling in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The company originally hoped its technology could lead to a nanotechnology-based light bulb that would never wear out. That technology has since been applied to a create thin-film silicon solar technology. VentureWire reports that Innovalight is one of the first companies that is moving into the manufacturing stage with its thin-film solar cells, which will be funded by the latest round of investment.

The irony in the constant moving for Innovalight is that Austin is turning out to be a hotspot for clean energy technology, and has been judged a better place to start such companies than places like Silicon Valley. .:.