Bloomington-based start-up TenKsolar announced Wednesday that it raised $15.5 million in a recent round of financing.

The company, which makes rooftop solar panels for buildings, said that the financing round was led by South Korea-based Hanwha Corporation and European venture capital firm ESB Novusmodus.

Tim Johnson, TenKsolar's director of product marketing, told the Pioneer Press that the company will use the funds to expand its sales force and add capacity and working capital.

Hanwha is a conglomerate with businesses that span several industries, including manufacturing, energy, finance, and leisure. The company said that it actively invests in “fundamentally differentiated, high-impact technologies.” Earlier this month, the company's solar division opened a new research and development center in California.

“We are pleased to have Hanwha as our global partner,” Dallas Meyer, founder, president, and chief technology officer of TenKsolar, said in a statement. “[Its] worldwide presence, together with the European partnership of ESB Novusmodus, provides TenKsolar a truly strategic investor base as we fundamentally improve solar.”

Unlike conventional solar panels, TenKsolar's panels are designed to keep generating energy from sunlight even if one of the photovoltaic cells in the panel malfunctions. In addition, TenKsolar's panels can use reflected light, while most panels need direct sunlight to generate energy.

Robert Schrimpff, a partner at Novusmodus, said in a statement that TenKsolar's “innovative and holistic approach” allows its solar systems to generate energy efficiently and at the lowest possible cost.

“At a time when the majority of the market is seeing negative gross margins, TenKsolar is able to be both highly cost competitive and profitable,” he said. “We look forward to helping [it] grow.”