Nanosolar Secures $20 Million in Equity Financing

Mohr Davidow Ventures Leads Series B Round in Developer of World's Most Cost-Efficient Solar Electricity Technology

PALO ALTO, California - June 13th, 2005 - Nanosolar, Inc., the technology leader in delivering the world's most cost-efficient solar electricity, today announced that it closed $20 million in Series B funding last month. This increases the total amount of funding secured by the company to $37 million (not including additional loans). Led by MDV (Mohr Davidow Ventures), the Series B round also includes Mitsui, Japan's largest distribution company, and Onpoint, the U.S. Army's venture fund, in addition to previous investors which included Benchmark Capital and others. The funding will support the company's move into commercial production. As part of the financing, MDV's Erik Straser has joined the company's board of directors.

“We are delighted to receive financing from MDV, Mitsui, and Onpoint,” said Martin Roscheisen, chief executive of Nanosolar, Inc. “Erik Straser and MDV have been our very top choice among the large set of interested venture investors; their understanding of the market and technology opportunity is unmatched. We are also excited to be working with Mitsui and Onpoint; their expertise and reach is unrivaled in market segments very important to us.”

“Among all the companies working on next-generation solar technology, Nanosolar is the one that can deliver the very best cost efficiency, and it accomplishes this without having to compromise on energy conversion efficiency or durability,” said MDV's Erik Straser. “We are excited to be working with Nanosolar.”

Nanosolar has successfully developed a leapfrog aggregate of process technology innovations for solar panels that can match conventional silicon modules in both energy output and long-term durability yet deliver radically lower fully-loaded manufacturing product cost. A key aspect to this is the unprecedented throughput that Nanosolar’s process technology achieves: With more than an order of magnitude faster intrinsic process throughput over the best in conventional silicon or vacuum technology, Nanosolar can produce solar panels in a highly cost and capital efficient way.

“Because of its unique technological approach, NanoSolar will bring products to the market that will have a profound impact on the world. This is an amazingly exciting company and opportunity,” added Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital.

About Nanosolar

Nanosolar, Inc., is focused on making solar electricity ubiquitous by delivering the world's most cost-efficient solar panels with process technology of unprecedented production volume scalability. By making it possible to simply print solar cells that can deliver as much energy and lifetime as conventional silicon cells, Nanosolar has developed the capability to dramatically multiply the process throughput possible in the production of solar panels and thus achieve unprecedented cost and production volume scalability advantages. Nanosolar, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, owns more than 42 patents and is backed by leading private investors. For more information, please visit www.nanosolar.com

About MDV - Mohr Davidow Ventures

Since its formation in 1983, Mohr Davidow Ventures, a leading venture capital firm, has earned a reputation among entrepreneurs as a skillful partner committed to building industry-leading companies in the areas of energy and materials, networking, software and Internet services, semiconductor and life sciences. For more information, please visit www.mdv.com.

About Benchmark Capital

Benchmark Capital is a leading venture capital firm with the mission of helping talented entrepreneurs build major technology enterprises focused on long-term growth. Benchmark's portfolio includes franchise companies such as Ariba, Broadbase Software, CacheFlow, Critical Path, eBay, Juniper Networks, Kana Communications, Northpoint Communications, and Red Hat Software.

About OnPoint Technologies

OnPoint Technologies, a strategic private equity firm funded by the US Army, has a mission to discover, invest in and support companies developing innovative mobile power and energy technology at the intersection of the defense and commercial markets.  For more information on OnPoint, please visit www.onpoint.us.

About Mitsui & Co., Ltd.

Mitsui & Co., Ltd., is Japan's oldest and largest international trading company with over 300 years of business presence in the world and more than $100 billion in annual business. The company is taking up a leading role in Japan's fast development of information technology, communications systems, and electronics business. With offices around the world and nearly 100 consolidated subsidiaries and joint ventures across the United States, the company is attuned to cultivate strategic business and project development, now and tomorrow.