Pythagoras Solar announces pilot installation at Willis Tower

Pythagoras Solar, an Israel-based, venture-backed company developing transparent, energy efficient windows that also generate solar power, announced that it has been chosen by Willis Tower, formerly Sears Tower, the tallest building the Western Hemisphere, to collaborate on a pilot project to help deliver on the building's renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement goals.

The pilot project, deployed in November 2010 on the south facing windows of the Willis Tower's 56th floor, uses Pythagoras Solar's building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) solution that has the potential to expand to a surface area allowing over two megawatts of solar power generation.

"We are excited to launch this pilot with Pythagoras Solar's leading-edge solar window solutions as a test for not only the energy savings that can be achieved, but the potential they represent to actually generate power through the sun," said John Huston, Executive Vice President of American Landmark Properties, one of the ownership partners of Willis Tower.

"We are incredibly proud to be considered to contribute our part for the 'greening' of the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, the iconic Willis Tower," said Gonen Fink, Co-founder and CEO Pythagoras Solar. "It is inspiring to see a team not waver in its dedication to making a true and lasting change through smart investments in the right solutions. With its combined benefits, our technology is set to provide Willis Tower with a valuable tool that will help move it toward its energy efficiency goals."

According to Pythagoras Solar, it is the first company to offer a fully integrated photovoltaic glass unit (PVGU) that addresses the need for simultaneous benefits of energy efficiency and high power density, while also offering architectural design benefits to increase real estate value and advance Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZB).

Pythagoras Solar is a privately held company with operations in the United States, Israel and China. Pythagoras Solar was the first company to be incubated by Precede Technologies, and the Pythagoras Solar raised a $10 million Series A financing in 2008 led by Israel Cleantech Ventures and joined by Pitango Venture Capital and Evergreen Venture Partners.

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Pitango VC invests in solar power project in China

Pitango Venture Capital, Israel's largest VC firm, has reportedly invested in a solar power project in China's Jiangxi Province.

According to a report published in SinoCast, Pitango is investing in the project in partnership with Shenzen Capital Group Co. (SCGC), and China-Israel Value Capital (CIVC), a China-focused private equity fund. Established in 1999, SCGC was one of the first venture capital firms in China and currently manages over $300 million.


Chemi Peres, Managing General Partner and Co-Founder of Pitango, and the son of Israeli President Shimon Peres, is visiting Shenzhen City, and discussing further cooperation with SCGC. A long-term strategic partnership between Pitango and SCGC is reportedly being discussed.

It is perhaps worth noting that Peres sits on the board of directors of Pythagoras Solar, a stealthy Israeli solar startup that raised $10 million in a Series A round of financing earlier this year.

Peres told SinoCast that he has found cooperative opportunities in almost every field of Shenzhen's industries, including IT, medicine, energy and education. He believes Pitango will bring more listing and overseas acquisition possibilities to Chinese companies.

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Precede Technologies, "The Cleantech Start-up Nursery"

Precede Technologies, an "entrepreneurship and investment firm which teams up with scientists and inventors to establish well-funded start-up companies", is the focus of an interesting feature article in "Globes".

Precede's partners, Orni Petruschka, Dr. Rafi Gidron, Nimrod Goor and Albert Olier, discuss Precede's origins, its investment strategy and focus on cleantech, and the firm's future plans.

The firm was founded in 2005 with the goal of bridging the gap between academe and industry, something observers have pointed to as a weakness in Israel's cleantech cluster. It is backed by Pitango Venture Capital and Evergreen Venture Partners and can provide up to $1 million in seed funding.

Precede Technologies' portfolio currently consists of three companies: Pythagoras Solar, Coriolis Wind, and SolarPower. In February of 2008, Pythagoras received a $10 million second round of funding from Pitango, Evergreen, and Israel Cleantech Ventures.

Global map of cleantech startups includes five Israel-related companies

Earth2Tech, a web site that provides cleantech news and analysis, has posted a map of 101 cleantech startups around the world, with useful information (investors, technology, etc.) broken out for each company.

No fewer than five Israel-related companies are on the list, including water disinfection company Atlantium Technologies; photovoltaic developer Pythagoras Solar; fuel-cell maker CellEra; electric car infrastructure developer Project Better Place; and biofuel company GreenFuel Technologies.

Project Better Place and GreenFuel Technologies are based in the U.S., but both companies were founded by Israelis and are engaged in R&D in Israel.

Project Better Place was founded by Shai Agassi and the company announced that it will roll out the first nationwide electric vehicle recharge grid in Israel by 2011.

GreenFuel Technologies was founded by Israeli chemical engineer Isaac Berzin during his postdoctoral studies at MIT in Boston. The company is developing an innovative process to recycle carbon dioxide or smokestack emissions to produce biofuels and feed. GreenFuel is collaborating with AlgaTech of Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava to make the process cost effective.

This is an impressive showing by Israel's growing cleantech cluster, especially considering that only two companies in all of Europe were included in the Earth2Tech list.

Pythagoras Solar raises $10m from Israel Cleantech, Pitango, and Evergreen

Pythagoras Solar, a solar energy company developing innovative photovoltaic technology, announced today the successful completion of a $10 million Series A financing round, led by Israel Cleantech Ventures and joined by Pitango Venture Capital and Evergreen Venture Partners. Pythagoras Solar, the first company that was conceived and incubated within Precede Technologies, will use the funds for Israel-based R&D and global commercialization of its technology and products that have "the potential to change the economics of solar power."

"Solar energy is the ultimate answer to the global quest for renewable energy," said Gonen Fink, CEO and co-founder of Pythagoras Solar. "We are very pleased to be supported by the leading venture capital funds in Israel and with the strong traction our technology has received from the industry. We look forward to building a world-class team of scientists and engineers who are prepared to tackle the multidisciplinary challenges that the photovoltaic industry is facing as it grows into a substantial factor in the world energy market."

Fink elaborated, "Those challenges combine software models, optic and system design, semiconductor processes, materials science, and mass manufacturing techniques to build cost-effective, highly durable solar energy products."

Pythagoras Solar was founded in 2006 by Fink, previously at Check Point Software, Dr. Itay Baruchi, a winner of the the Scientific American magazine's "50 most significant scientific breakthroughs" award, and Precede Technologies. The company, which expects to disclose more details about its technologies and products by early 2009, has an R&D center in Hakfar Hayarok, Israel and a U.S. office in San Mateo, California.

Following the round, Pythagoras Solar's board will include Meir Ukeles of Israel Cleantech Ventures; Boaz Dinte, Managing Partner of Evergreen Venture Partners; Chemi Peres, Managing General Partner of Pitango Venture Capital; and Orni Petruschka, a partner at Precede Technologies.

This investment in Pythagoras Solar follows other recent venture capital investments in Israeli solar technology companies, including a $9m investment in Xjet Solar, and an $11.8m investment in SolarEdge Technologies.