HELIUP Raises €16M for Lightweight Solar Panel Production

French deeptech firm HELIUP has successfully closed a €16 million funding round, signaling a significant push to industrialize and deploy its innovative lightweight solar panel technology across European commercial and industrial buildings. This substantial capital infusion is set to accelerate the company's mission to unlock vast untapped rooftop solar potential.

The investment was spearheaded by Supernova Invest, with active participation from new backers including MAIF Impact, Lita Gestion, and C2AD. Existing investors Starquest Capital and BNP Paribas Développement also reaffirmed their confidence in HELIUP's vision by participating in this round. Notably, the financing package incorporated a crowdfunding element via the Lita platform, allowing individual investors to join the growth trajectory.

HELIUP's core innovation addresses a critical bottleneck in solar adoption: the structural limitations of many existing rooftops. Traditional silicon panels, weighing between 12-15 kg/m², often exceed the load-bearing capacity of large flat commercial and industrial structures. HELIUP's proprietary panels, however, weigh a mere 5 kg/m², achieved through a unique combination of silicon photovoltaic cells and an advanced, ultra-thin glass architecture. This drastically reduces the need for costly structural reinforcements, opening up an estimated 1 billion square metres of underutilized rooftop space across Europe.

The company, a spin-off from the esteemed Liten CEA Tech research institution, operates a 4,000 m² manufacturing facility in Le Cheylas, Isère. This facility, operational since January 2025, boasts an annual capacity of 100 MWp, translating to approximately 500,000 m² of solar panels per year. HELIUP offers two product lines, STYKON for flat roofs and LIGHTON for pitched roofs, both achieving around 20% efficiency, on par with conventional panels.

The newly acquired funds will be strategically allocated to bolster HELIUP's commercial sales force, scale up manufacturing capabilities, and develop modular industrial units for swift European rollout. Continued investment in research and development will focus on enhancing panel performance and optimizing production efficiencies. This expansion is expected to create 100 direct jobs by 2027, growing its current workforce of 40 employees in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region.

Looking ahead, HELIUP aims for a tenfold increase in production capacity from 2028, positioning itself as a pivotal player in Europe's solar manufacturing sector and contributing significantly to the continent's energy independence objectives. This funding round underscores the increasing investor appetite for French industrial deeptech ventures with tangible solutions for the renewable energy transition.