SunDrive Nab’s $21m from blue chip Climate tech investors

Founders David Hu and Vince Allen Of Solar Disrupter Sun Drive has nabbed the whole who of investors in their latest $2m round 

Investors include 

• Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull
• Canva co-founder Cameron Adams 
• Atlassian s Mike Cannon-Brookes 
• Blackbird Ventures
•  Chinese-Australian solar pioneer Dr Shi Zhengrong
• Bill Bartee’s Main Sequence - CSIROs Innovation fund
• Ian Learmonth’s - Clean Energy Finance Corporation (government funded 

What it does 

SunDrive co-founder designed a solar cell that uses copper rather than silver paste in the electrode lines; an innovation that will make cells cheaper , scalable but also more efficient 

The Pain 

Local manufacturing would help break China’s stranglehold on the Australian solar panel market, which currently Supplies more than 80 per cent of Australian panels.

The painkiller 

Sun drive plans to revolutionise the onshore mass production of solar cells and the development of an Australian solar manufacturing industry. Improving sovereign manufacturing capability will increase Australia’s resilience to supply chain disruptions and further enable the uptake of solar PV,

What the money will be used for 

SunDrive will use the $21 million to build a pilot production line to help accelerate its plan to mass manufacture solar panels in Australia.

Source Peter Ker of AFR. https://www.afr.com/policy/energy-and-climate/turnbull-makes-a-push-for-hydro-in-the-hunter-20220331-p5a9nv