Optivolt Raises $32 Million for Power Electronics Built Into Panels

• Optivolt raised a $32 million Series A led by VXI Capital for its Power Balancer, electronics built into the solar panel.
• The device replaces bypass diodes and adds rapid shutdown and monitoring, so systems need no separate optimizers or microinverters, the company says.
• Optivolt has shipped more than 20,000 panels with the device and will spend the money on expanding manufacturing.

San Francisco-based Optivolt has raised a $32 million Series A led by VXI Capital for its Power Balancer, electronics built into the solar panel. RA Capital, Valo Ventures and Atlas Innovate also invested, the power electronics startup said in a statement on Oct. 21.

The round brings total funding to $42 million. Founding Enphase CEO Paul Nahi and former SunPower CEO Tom Werner are among the investors.

In a standard panel, one weak cell can drag down a whole cell group or trip a bypass diode that takes the group offline. The Power Balancer shifts energy between cell groups in real time instead. It replaces the bypass diodes and builds rapid shutdown and monitoring into the panel. Optivolt says installers can then skip separate optimizers, microinverters and rapid-shutdown devices.

That pits the startup against far larger suppliers of module-level electronics. Enphase Energy shipped about 1.59 million IQ microinverters, or 725.2 MW DC, in the second quarter of 2026. Its revenue was $291.9 million, the company's quarterly report shows.

The round in numbers

• $32 million Series A, led by VXI Capital, a new hard tech fund.
• 76% of the $42 million Optivolt has raised to date came in this round (list.solar calculation).
• More than 20,000 panels with the Power Balancer shipped so far.
• 99.4% conversion efficiency under typical conditions, the company says.
• 19 issued patents and 27 pending applications.
• Up to 6 times the power of panels with bolted-on optimizers in defined shade scenarios, according to Optivolt's internal tests.
• About 80 Enphase microinverters shipped in the second quarter alone for every Power Balancer panel Optivolt has shipped to date (list.solar calculation).

Heat was the main engineering problem, Optivolt said, so it assembled a team that had designed power systems for satellites. It holds UL certifications for its junction-box enclosure, panel electronics, rapid shutdown and module safety. Its website lists a 450-W home panel with 23.1% module efficiency and a 30-year warranty.

"Today, rising panel power, the widespread adoption of storage, and the urgent need to reduce costs demand a new approach," Nahi said in the statement.

The money will go to expanding manufacturing and taking the technology from homes to utility-scale projects, including ones designed to help power AI data centers. Optivolt gave no timeline or factory location. Its home system is open for waitlist sign-ups on its website.