T.J. Rodgers had a solar stock trading under a dollar and a story he thought Silicon Valley would buy. So he got in his car.
On a single day of presentations to venture investors along Sand Hill Road, Rodgers collected verbal commitments for most of what became a $26.2 million private placement. The round was anchored by Foris Ventures, the family office of John Doerr, chairman of venture firm Kleiner Perkins.
The pitch framed SunPower less like a public equity and more like a venture bet. According to the company's September 3 announcement, SunPower carries about $300 million in annual revenue but trades at a market value of roughly $60 million — about 0.20 times sales — and, unlike a typical start-up, the risks of product development and going public are already behind it. The announcement does not say at what price the placement shares were sold, so the dilutive impact on existing holders cannot be determined from it.
Shares closed 58.21% higher at $0.4020 the following session, on dollar volume of about $113 million.
The low share price, Rodgers said, reflects two things: the loss of a federal solar tax credit that reset the market, and what the company calls a misexecution in its SunPower Direct Division during the second quarter of 2026. The division has been handed to Kapil Rai, described by the company as its most experienced manager of that kind of operation.
The Sand Hill Road pitch also drew on U.S. Energy Information Administration data: only 6% of solar-capable American homes had installed solar as of 2026, with the EIA projecting 30% market penetration by 2030.
The release included return projections the company puts at between 4x and 11x, worked out four different ways from a presentation-day price of $0.30 a share. These are company estimates, not independent analysis.
Short volume in the following session reached 60.37% of reported activity. The release does not address it.
The company says it plans to grow revenue to $500 million next year and return to profitability "shortly." It did not say what shortly means.