SolarEdge

SolarEdge Technologies, Inc. is a company that developed a DC optimized inverter system.

The company was the first to successfully commercialize Power Optimizers, a device that offers module-level maximum power point tracking (MPPT), before feeding back the electricity generated into an inverter.

In 2023, SolarEdge is critically noted for losing over 70% of its market value, also being the worst performing stock according to many critics, becoming the most losing stock in the S&P 500 for the year, which resulted in its delisting from the index. As of 2024, SolarEdge plunged nearly 15% by 10:30 a.m., making the stock worth 25$~ far fetched from their all-time-high of 300$

History
SolarEdge was established in 2006 by Guy Sella, Lior Handelsman, Yoav Galin, Meir Adest and Amir Fishelov. The company was backed by venture capital from GE Energy Financial Services, Norwest Venture Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, ORR Partners, Genesis Partners, Walden International, Vertex Ventures Israel, JP Asia Capital and Opus Capital Ventures.

The company started mass production of its products by contract manufacturer Flex at the end of 2009.

In March 2015, SolarEdge had an initial public offering of 7,000,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $18.00 per share, raising $126 million. The shares began trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “SEDG.” Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank acted as joint book-running managers for the offering.

In May 2015, SolarEdge partnered with Tesla Energy to develop an inverter that could charge the Tesla Powerwall home energy storage battery that was unveiled in April 2015. The SolarEdge inverter manages both the conversion of energy from solar panels along with charging and discharging of the Powerwall. Over time, Tesla phased out its partnership with SolarEdge, with Tesla adding an inverter to its Powerwall 2 that was introduced in October 2016, and introducing its own solar inverter in January 2021

In October 2018, SolarEdge announced agreements to acquire a major stake in Kokam, a South Korean provider of lithium-ion battery cells, batteries and energy storage solutions. In January 2019 SolarEdge announced the acquisition of a majority stake in SMRE – an Italian EV powertrain manufacturer. In 2019 SolarEdge announced the acquisition of Gamatronic, a UPS manufacturer, and established its Critical Power division In January 2023, SolarEdge announced the acquisition of Hark - a European-Based Energy Analytics and IoT Company

Following a battle with cancer, founder Guy Sella died in 2019. Former vice president of global sales Zvi Lando, was appointed as CEO.