Cambridge-based Solar Cloth Company has appointed former ARM operations director Mike Staplehurst as its new chief executive.
Staplehurst joins the thin-film solar manufacturer after more than 14 years at semiconductor and software design company ARM, where he held a number of senior operational roles.
He replaces founder and former acting CEO Perry Carroll, who he will work alongside in taking the business forward following its crowd funding round earlier this year.
The company started a crowd funding initiative on CrowdCube – a site which enables independent investors to finance start-up companies – between November 2014 and January 2015 and managed to raise almost £1 million from more than 350 separate investors, having originally targeted £750,000.
“After our successful crowd funding round, we're beginning to scale up our commercial operations,” said Caroll.
“There is a lot of work to be done developing the business and in terms of educating the industry about the benefits of photovoltaics, but we have every confidence in Mike's ability to do just that.”