Solestial’s high-efficiency silicon solar cells. Photo: Solestial

Space solar energy company Solestial closed an oversubscribed $10 million Seed Round of funding led by Airbus Ventures, with participation from AEI HorizonX, GPVC, Stellar Ventures, Industrious Ventures, and others. 

The company says that its solar panels can be produced at scale, 90% cheaper than solar panels widely used by the satellite industry. Solestial has a silicon photovoltaic technology, optimized for space, that it says offers 10 years of orbital reliability in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO). It also features what it calls a “breakthrough” self-curing radiation damage capability at normal operating temperatures of 80 degrees Celsius or below. 

The company plans to use the funding to ramp up production and customer engagement, expand ground and flight testing and make additional investments in R&D and go-to-market functions.

“We’re on a mission to become the solar energy company for space, and this capital will help us dramatically accelerate delivery of our breakthrough technology at scale,” said Stanislau Herasimenka, co-founder and CEO of Solestial. “We deeply and humbly appreciate the vote of confidence from each of the investors in this extremely strong syndicate led by Airbus Ventures, and we couldn’t be more excited to roll up our sleeves and get to work on this important next phase.”

Solestial, formerly Regher Solar, began at Arizona State University. The company has letters of intent worth “hundreds of millions of dollars” from commercial customers including startups and defense primes. It also has more than $2.5 million in SBIR contracts with NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).