Sofab Inks, a materials company focused on perovskite solar technology, has raised $6 million in a seed funding round, led by strategic investor Cloudberry Ventures.

Sofab Inks was spun out of the University of Louisville’s Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research and received support from the U.S. Department of Energy. The company develops novel, nanostructured materials for solar applications.

According to the company, these nanostructured materials are designed to replace the fullerene layer commonly used in perovskite solar cells, citing the layer’s fragility as a contributor to reliability issues.

Perovskite films are said to be roughly 100 times thinner than silicon and can be made at far lower temperatures.

“Perovskites are the first materials class that brings tandem solar into range for utility-scale deployment, the segment behind almost all of the roughly 2,800 gigawatts installed worldwide,” said Blake Martin, co-founder and CEO of Sofab Inks. “Our metal-oxide nanoparticles bond six to ten times more strongly than C60 and hold up at real sizes, running at 22.3% on 30-centimeter single-junction modules. This funding moves us into high-velocity production as we triple our engineering team to manage the 1x to 100x scale-up for 1×2 meter commercial specs.”

Sofab Inks is said to be commercially engaged or in late-stage discussions with approximately 90% of the perovskite industry.

Global VC funding for the solar sector in Q1 2026 came to $1.1 billion in 17 deals, a 21% decrease YoY compared to $1.4 billion raised in 14 deals in Q1 2025, according to Mercom’s Q1 2026 Solar Funding and M&A report. Funding increased 74% QoQ compared to the $606 million raised in 20 deals in Q4 2025.

In 2023, Caelux Corporation, a company developing perovskite-based solar technology to enhance module efficiency, closed a $12 million Series A3 funding round, led by Temasek, a global investment company, with participation from Reliance New Energy Limited, Khosla Ventures, Mitsui Fudosan, and Fine Structure Ventures.