Pythagoras Solar

About Pythagoras Solar

Pythagoras Solar was an Israeli startup founded in 2007 by Gonen Fink and Dr. Itay Baruchi, operating at the intersection of energy-efficient building materials and photovoltaics. The company was conceived within the Precede Technologies incubator, which pairs scientists with entrepreneurs. Gonen Fink, who served as CEO, brought extensive leadership experience from the tech industry, notably as one of the early employees at Check Point Software, where he was instrumental in its growth. Dr. Itay Baruchi, the CTO, is an award-winning physicist. Their combined expertise aimed to shift solar energy from desert farms to distributed generation integrated directly into urban environments.

The company focused on the Building-Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) market, targeting the architecture, engineering, and construction sectors. Its business model revolved around manufacturing and selling its core product to glazing companies, which would then incorporate them into building projects like curtain walls and skylights. The firm successfully raised $10 million in a Series A funding round in February 2008 from investors including Israel Cleantech Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, and Evergreen Venture Partners. Significant milestones included a pilot installation at the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago in 2011 and winning a $100,000 grant from General Electric's Ecomagination Challenge the same year.

Pythagoras Solar’s flagship product was the Photovoltaic Glass Unit (PVGU), a transparent solar window. This unit consisted of standard monocrystalline solar cells encased between two panes of glass, forming a double-paned window structure. A key feature was its proprietary optics—a plastic prism system that concentrated direct sunlight onto the embedded solar cells while allowing diffuse daylight to pass through, maintaining transparency. This design offered a threefold value proposition: generating electricity, improving thermal insulation to reduce heating and cooling costs, and providing natural light. The PVGUs were designed to be aesthetically pleasing and could be customized for specific locations and climates using the company's proprietary software. By 2010, the company had established relationships with partners like China Sunergy for cell supply and Flextronics for manufacturing, with operations in Israel, the U.S., and China. Despite its promising technology, the company is now considered inactive or deadpooled.