PLYMOUTH, Wis. — Orion Energy Systems, an award-winning designer and manufacturer of energy management products and services, announced that Technology Transformation Venture Fund and Capvest® Venture Fund of New Albany, Ohio, with offices in Madison and Sussex, Wisconsin, have made a $500,000 Series C investment in Orion. Capvest participated in the $5 million financing along with the Clean Technology Fund II, LP.
Privately held, Orion® has more than 380 stockholders. Orion now does business with 60 of the Fortune 1000 companies and was recently named one of the 500 fastest growing companies by Inc. magazine.
“The Capvest Venture Fund was formed to increase the amount of equity capital available to Wisconsin businesses,” stated Daryll Lund, president and CEO of Community Bankers of Wisconsin (CBW). “We believe that Orion Energy Systems is poised for additional growth, and our investment will help them with new market development and expansion. Ultimately, we thought that it was a real positive for Capvest to become a partner with Orion.”
Capvest is a Midwest-based Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) providing equity capital for growth companies in the Midwest and is managed by William Custer and Jakki Haussler.
“The domestic lighting market is very large. This combined with Orion’s intellectual property protection was interesting to us. The timing for our investment was right,” said William Custer, managing director of the Capvest Venture Fund. “In addition, Orion has a culture that fosters innovation to develop complementary products to deliver additional energy savings to its customers.”
In the last year alone, Orion lighting systems helped customers save more than $37 million and 600 million kilowatt hours (kWh). Based on EPA estimates, the current installations of Orion prevent 11.7 million tons of greenhouse gas (carbon dioxide) from being emitted into the atmosphere over the lifetime of the fixture, the equivalent of 3.2 million tons of carbon. Other savings include the reduction of 50,880 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, which affect acid rain; 24,540 tons of nitrous oxide (N2O), which is another greenhouse gas; and 444 pounds of mercury. The savings in electricity usage is the environmental equivalent of removing 1.7 million cars from the road, saving 992 million gallons of gasoline or 23.6 million barrels of oil.
“This $500,000 investment by a seasoned venture capital firm like Capvest is validation of Orion’s technology, innovation expertise and business model. Our partnership with Capvest will help Orion Energy Systems to accelerate our efforts to develop and deploy
new technologies and solutions for U.S. businesses in search of large energy efficiency opportunities,” said Neal Verfuerth, Orion’s CEO and president. “We are particularly pleased with the fact that the Community Bankers of Wisconsin played a significant role in this investment.”
About Orion
Orion Energy Systems has been innovating in the energy and lighting business since 1996. Orion is a designer and manufacturer of energy efficient lighting solutions for the school, gymnasium, manufacturing, warehousing, and commercial markets. Orion provides capacity displacement solutions for supply side management, transmission management, demand response, emission reduction strategies, emissions trading and demand side management for the electricity industry. For more information, please contact:
Stephen Heins, vice president of Corporate Communications, Orion Energy Systems, 1204 Pilgrim Road, Plymouth, WI 53073, sheins@oriones.com <mailto:sheins@oriones.com>, 920-892-9340, ext. 226, or visit the website at www.oriones.com <http://www.oriones.com>.
About Capvest Venture Fund
Capvest Venture Fund is a Midwest-based Small Business Investment Company (SBIC), providing equity capital for growth companies in the Midwest. For more information, visit the Capvest website at www.capvestvc.com <http://www.capvestvc.com> or call 614-855-9980.
About Custer Capital
Custer Capital, a Columbus-based investment advisory firm, manages the Technology Transformation Venture Fund. Custer Capital provides unique wealth-building strategies for business owners, professionals, retirees and family trusts. For more information, visit the Custer Capital website at www.custercapital.com <http://www.custercapital.com> or call 614-855-9980.
About CBW
CBW represents 225 Wisconsin community banks with approximately 900 banking offices located in small towns, rural areas, suburbs and cities. For more information visit the CBW website at www.communitybankers.org <http://www.communitybankers.org>. Daryll J. Lund, president and CEO, Community Bankers of Wisconsin, 608-833-4229.
