Light investments for LCA

UK investment group, Low Carbon Accelerator (LCA), has announced additional investments in US lighting firm LUMEnergi and Imperial College spin-out, QuantaSol.

The firm made a $533,333 (£328,000) investment in LUMEnergi as part of an overall funding round of $1m with its existing co-investor, Noventi Ventures. The funding takes LCA’s total investment in LUMEnergi to $5,333,333.

Andrew Affleck, executive chairman for Low Carbon Investors, the investment manager for LCA, said: ‘LUMEnergi is in late-stage negotiations with several investment groups as part of its planned Series B round and this further bridge will support the company through to establishing if acceptable terms will be reached.

‘From a trading perspective, we have been highly encouraged by customer feedback on the initial installations and by the strength of the sales pipeline for 2010.’

LCA also announced today that it has invested a further £750,000 through a convertible loan in QuantaSol, taking LCA’s total equity holding in the solar-cell company to 41.4 per cent.

Dr Steve Mahon, chief investment officer for Low Carbon Investors, said: ‘This further investment will enable QuantaSol to complete its product development and deliver its first cells to customers for field testing. We have been pleased with the recent technical performance and can see a clear path to delivering a world-leading solar cell.’