The most expensive part of a solar farm isn't the panels. It's the thousands of person-hours spent bolting them to metal frames in a dusty field, under a sun that could be generating power instead. 5B, an Australian company founded by two solar engineers who did that work, decided to move the job indoors.
Their product, the 5B Maverick, is a solar array you unfold, not build. It's a prefabricated, pre-wired block of up to 90 panels that gets assembled in a factory, folded flat for shipping, and then opened on site like a giant, high-tech accordion. A team of ten can deploy over a megawatt of capacity in a single day, the company reported at a customer site in Chile [Startup Daily, December 2022]. For an industry racing to scale while grappling with skilled labor shortages and tight project margins, that's not just a feature. It's the entire business case.
The bet on deployment speed
5B isn't a panel manufacturer. It's a systems integrator and a deployment technology company. The wedge is pure velocity: reducing the 'balance of system' costs,everything except the panels themselves,that can make up half of a solar project's capital expenditure. By moving wiring, framing, and assembly into a controlled factory environment, 5B aims to cut weather delays, improve quality control, and dramatically shrink the on-site crew and timeline.
The Maverick units are substantial. Each one packs roughly 50 kilowatts of capacity [RenewEconomy, May 2025]. Deploying them is a matter of trucking in the folded stacks, using a forklift to place them, and unfolding the array. The company claims this process can be up to ten times faster than conventional methods [5B, retrieved 2024]. The resulting system is also dense, using land more efficiently to generate, by one analysis, up to 98% more energy per hectare annually than a single-axis tracker system [Electrek, June 2024].
Why strategic investors are writing checks
5B's funding history reads like a targeted strike into the energy infrastructure world. Its Series A in 2020 was led by The AES Corporation, a global power giant, which took a strategic stake with plans to deploy the technology across its portfolio from the United States to India [Bloomberg, July 2020]. The $55 million (AUD) Series B in late 2022 was co-led by AES and Artesian, with a significant $20 million (AUD) chunk coming from bp ventures [PV Tech, December 2022]. These aren't purely financial VC bets; they are commitments from customers who intend to use the product at scale.
The traction followed the capital. By the end of 2022, 5B's technology had been deployed at more than 100 sites globally, representing over 60 MW of capacity [PV Tech, December 2022]. Recent orders suggest the scale is climbing: a more than 100 MW order from off-grid specialist Zenith Energy in mid-2025, and a 70 MW purchase order for the Aurora Energy Precinct in October 2026 [RenewEconomy, May 2025] [PV Magazine, October 2026].
| Round | Date | Amount (Approx. USD) | Lead Investor(s) | Key Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | July 2020 | $8 million | The AES Corporation | Strategic investment for global deployment [PV Magazine Australia, December 2020]. |
| Series B | December 2022 | ~$36.7 million | AES Corporation, Artesian | Included $20M AUD from bp ventures [PV Tech, December 2022]. |
| Grant | May 2025 | ~$46 million (AUD) | Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) | Non-dilutive funding to scale manufacturing [RenewEconomy, May 2025]. |
The founders who came from the field
The company's grounding in real-world solar construction isn't a marketing line. Co-founders Chris McGrath (CEO) and Eden Tehan are both solar engineers and former colleagues at Infigen Energy, where they worked on early large-scale Australian solar projects [5B, retrieved 2024]. They are graduates of UNSW, a university with a deep pedigree in solar research, and were listed among its Top 100 Innovators in 2023 [UNSW Founders, retrieved 2026]. This background gives them credibility when they talk about reducing hazardous on-site work and mechanical failures,problems they've likely seen firsthand.
Where the wheels could come off
For all its promise, 5B's model introduces new complexities and faces stiff incumbent economics. The business relies on a capital-intensive factory model and a logistics chain for moving bulky, if foldable, units. The unit economics must clear a high bar: the savings in field labor and accelerated revenue from earlier power generation must outweigh the added costs of factory overhead and transportation. Furthermore, they are selling a systems solution into a market that is notoriously cost-sensitive and where conventional fixed-tilt and single-axis tracker suppliers have decades of optimization and scale behind them.
The company's answer appears to be a focus on difficult sites and time-sensitive projects where its advantages are most acute,remote mining operations, challenging terrain, or developments with strict commissioning deadlines. The partnership with AES and the order from an off-grid power provider like Zenith Energy are early signals of this product-market fit. The recent ARENA manufacturing grant is also a direct subsidy aimed at helping 5B achieve the production scale needed to bring costs down further [RenewEconomy, May 2025].
The next twelve months
The key milestone to watch is the execution of those large, recent orders. Successfully delivering and commissioning the 70 MW for the Aurora precinct and scaling toward the 100 MW for Zenith will be the strongest possible proof of concept for the technology at a true utility scale. It will also stress-test the manufacturing and logistics engine 5B has been building with its grant funding.
Financially, the company is likely well-capitalized following its Series B and the ARENA grant. The next fundraising move, when it comes, will be telling. A Series C would need to demonstrate not just deployment wins, but a clear path to profitability and market expansion beyond its early strategic partners.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows the stakes. If a traditional 1 MW solar installation takes a crew of 20 three weeks (1050 person-days), and a 5B system can do it with 10 people in one day (10 person-days), the labor savings are about 99%. Even if the Maverick hardware carries a premium, turning a month-long construction window into a 24-hour operation changes the project finance model. It means revenue starts flowing weeks earlier, which for a 100 MW plant could be worth millions in net present value. That's the math 5B is betting will convince the industry. To win, it doesn't need to beat the cost of every steel pile in the ground. It needs to beat the financial model of Nextracker, the incumbent giant in solar tracking, on total project economics,where time is money.
Sources
- [5B, retrieved 2024] Home | 5B | https://5b.co/
- [Startup Daily, December 2022] BP backs Sydney solar startup 5B in $55 million Series B | https://www.startupdaily.net/topic/funding/bp-backs-sydney-solar-startup-5b-in-55-million-series-b/
- [RenewEconomy, May 2025] Australian Maverick solar innovator 5B says costs to fall 25 pct after landing first Sunshot grant | https://reneweconomy.com.au/australian-maverick-solar-innovator-5b-says-costs-to-fall-25-pct-after-landing-first-sunshot-grant/
- [PV Tech, December 2022] bp backs rapid deployment solar technology with A$20 million investment | https://www.pv-tech.org/bp-backs-rapid-deployment-solar-technology-with-a20-million-investment/
- [Bloomberg, July 2020] AES Acquires 25% Stake in Maker of Pre-Fabricated Solar Arrays | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-30/aes-invests-in-solar-design-that-cuts-installation-time-in-half/
- [PV Magazine Australia, December 2020] Weekend read: Maverick not only by name | https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2020/12/19/weekend-read-maverick-not-only-by-name/
- [PV Magazine, October 2026] 5B pre-fab solar tech gets nod for 1414 Degrees Aurora Energy Precinct | http://www.pv-magazine.com/2026/10/26/5b-pre-fab-solar-tech-gets-nod-for-1414-degrees-aurora-energy-precinct/
- [Electrek, June 2024] 5B Maverick solar array energy yield claims | https://electrek.co
- [UNSW Founders, retrieved 2026] UNSW Top 100 Innovators | https://www.unswfounders.com