Swift Solar

Swift Solar is a San Jose/San Carlos, California-based solar technology company founded in 2017, spun out of Stanford, MIT, and NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory). The company is developing next-generation perovskite tandem solar cells - a breakthrough "Solar 3.0" technology that stacks perovskite and silicon layers to capture a broader spectrum of sunlight, unlocking up to 50% more power output and up to 30% cost savings compared to conventional silicon-only panels. Swift Solar's proprietary technology is built on over a decade of perovskite science pioneered by its world-class founding team, and encompasses unique patent-protected materials, architectures, and manufacturing processes. The company has demonstrated perovskite stability improvements of over 100x (with no degradation over 3,000+ hours of high-temperature operation), full-size cell efficiency within 10% of lab records, and deposition speed improvements of over 10x to reduce manufacturing costs. Their cells are designed for a broad range of applications including commercial & industrial rooftops, utility-scale solar farms, residential solar, data centers, electric vehicles, and even space applications.

Swift Solar's significance to the US energy supply chain is substantial. The company is explicitly focused on domestic manufacturing of perovskite solar technology - creating new US jobs and supply chains to leapfrog global (especially Chinese) silicon solar dominance. The company is backed by US federal and state government support, has won the prestigious R&D 100 Award, and has been named one of TIME's Top GreenTech Companies in America. Its perovskite tandem technology represents one of the most promising pathways to making solar energy cheaper and more efficient than anything currently available, with the potential to dramatically reshape the economics of renewable energy deployment across the US grid, transportation, and space sectors.

The founding team comprises six co-founders with PhDs from MIT, Stanford, and Oxford - all pioneers in perovskite photovoltaics - collectively credited with 40+ patents and contributing to over 300 research papers with 200,000+ citations. Multiple co-founders were former staff scientists at NREL and hold Forbes 30 Under 30 recognition. The company has since grown its team with deep industry veterans from First Solar, Bloom Energy, Alta Devices, MiaSolé, and KLA-Tencor, providing both cutting-edge research capability and proven manufacturing know-how. With a Series A round led by Eni Next and Fontinalis Partners (among 13 investors) and 6 total funding rounds completed, Swift Solar is well-positioned to drive the commercialization of perovskite tandems in the United States.