Konarka Technologies, Inc. was a solar energy company based in Lowell, Massachusetts, founded in 2001 as a spin-off from University of Massachusetts Lowell. In late May 2012, the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection and laid off its approximately 80-member staff. The company’s operations have ceased and a trustee is tasked with liquidating the company’s assets for the benefit of creditors. The company was developing two types of organic solar cells: polymer-fullerene solar cells and dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Konarka cells were lightweight, flexible photovoltaics that could be printed as film or coated onto surfaces. The company had hoped its manufacturing process, which utilized organic chemistry, would result in higher efficiency at lower cost than traditional crystalline silicon fabricated solar cells. Konarka was also researching infrared light activated photovoltaics which would enable night-time power generation. The company's co-founders included the Nobel laureate Alan J. Heeger. The company was named after Konark Sun Temple in India. Funding As of 2006, Konarka had received $60 million in funding from venture capital firms including 3i, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, New Enterprise Associates, Good Energies and Chevron Technology Ventures. Konarka also received nearly $10 million in combined grants from the Pentagon and European governments, and in 2007 was approved for further funding through the Solar America Initiative, a component of the White House's Advanced Energy Initiative. The company raised a further $45 million in private capital financing in October 2007 in a financing round led by Mackenzie Financial Corporation. The company also received $1.5 million from a state of Massachusetts alternative energy trust fund in 2003 during Governor Mitt Romney's term and another $5 million during Governor Deval Patrick's term. At the time of its bankruptcy filing in 2012, its funding history was summarized: "Konarka raised more than $170 million in private capital investments and $20 million in government grants, according to its website. Under the Bush administration, Konarka received a $1.6 million Army contract in 2005 and a $3.6 million award from the Department of Energy in 2007. Under the Obama administration, Konarka was one of 183 clean-energy companies that got a total of $2.3 billion in tax credits as part of the 2009 stimulus." Bankruptcy and political fallout The bankruptcy filing occurred days after a visit by Republican presidential candidate Romney to Solyndra, another bankrupted solar energy firm which also received over $500 million of funding from the United States government. The