Updated:
Nextracker
Dan Shugar, a veteran of the solar industry who previously led PowerLight and SunPower's tracking division, started Nextracker in 2013 with an independent...
Nextracker
Dan Shugar, a veteran of the solar industry who previously led PowerLight and SunPower's tracking division, started Nextracker in 2013 with an independent board at Fremont, California. The company was incubated inside Flex, the global electronics manufacturer, which allowed it to scale without the capital burden of owning factories. This early architecture defined the company: Nextracker would own the software, the controls, and the IP, but not the steel. By 2015 the company had shipped its first gigawatt of trackers, and by 2022 it was a public company after a 2021 SPAC merger was called off in favor of a traditional IPO. Nextracker supplies horizontal single-axis solar trackers—the mechanical frame and motor that moves an entire row of panels east to west—plus a software platform called TrueCapture that fine-tunes each row's angle for weather, terrain, and shading. The firm covers utility-scale solar, where a single project can exceed 500 megawatts. Its trackers sit under panels from nearly every major module maker, with confirmed large-scale deployments for developers including SB Energy, Longroad Energy, and Silicon Ranch. Geographically, the US is the dominant market—5.3 GW shipped domestically in fiscal 2024—but Nextracker has substantial volume in Australia, India, and the Middle East, where bifacial modules on trackers maximize output from high-irradiance desert sites. As of fiscal 2024 the company employed approximately 1,150 people and reported over $2.5 billion in annual revenue, with a backlog approaching $4 billion. It runs a dedicated steel sourcing desk that buys in volume across its fabricator network, and a commissioning-support arm that deploys mechanical engineers to project sites worldwide. In September 2023, Nextracker acquired Ojjo, a foundation-engineering company specializing in truss-style piles that reduce steel usage and foundation failures in rocky soils—a move that bundled site-prep IP into the tracker contract. The company has also invested in small-scale wind-deflection studies and hail-stow algorithms, both directly under the R&D line. Nextracker's real structural differentiator is its distributed manufacturing model: instead of shipping finished steel components from a handful of central factories, it sources steel locally through 50+ licensed fabricators, cutting logistics costs and insulating itself from anti-circumvention tariffs that have upended other solar-hardware importers. The result is a cost structure that behaves more like a logistics firm with an IP margin than a heavy manufacturer. This model proved itself during the COVID-era steel crunch, when Nextracker could reroute orders to unconstrained geographies without stopping production—a flexibility that pure-asset manufacturers of competing trackers could not match.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2013
AUM
Undisclosed
Location
Region
North America
Country
United States
City
Fremont
Corporate office
Fremont, CA, United States
Principals
Dan Shugar
CEO and Founder
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who leads Nextracker's technology and product development?
Dan Shugar founded the company in 2013 and remains CEO, driving the product roadmap including the TrueCapture software platform and the 2023 acquisition of Ojoo's foundation technology. The company maintains an R&D group split between Fremont and field-engineering teams that work directly on utility-scale installation sites, iterating on mechanical and control-system designs based on operating data from the installed fleet.
How does Nextracker avoid the tariff exposure that hit other solar-hardware suppliers?
Nextracker uses an asset-light, distributed manufacturing model: it licenses its tracker design to a network of more than 50 independent steel fabricators in 30 countries. Because it sources structural steel locally through these fabricators rather than shipping finished components across borders, it largely sidesteps the anti-circumvention tariffs that apply to imports of assembled solar hardware from Southeast Asia into the US. This structure also shortens the logistics tail and keeps steel costs near local mill pricing.
What is Nextracker's relationship with Flex?
Nextracker was incubated inside Flex (formerly Flextronics), the Singapore-domiciled contract manufacturer, which provided supply-chain infrastructure and working-capital support throughout its early growth. Flex retained a significant ownership stake even after Nextracker's 2022 IPO, and the two companies maintain a commercial relationship for procurement and logistics services, though Nextracker's tracker-fabrication supply chain now operates independently under its own sourcing desk.
Does Nextracker invest directly in the solar projects it supplies?
No. Nextracker is a capital-equipment supplier to solar developers and independent power producers—it does not take equity positions in the solar farms it equips. Its capital deployment is limited to R&D, acquisitions like Ojoo (September 2023), and supply-chain finance to support fabricator inventory. The company's revenue is derived from sale of tracker rows plus commissioning and software-as-a-service revenue from TrueCapture.
Which geographies beyond the US are material for Nextracker?
Australia, India, and the Middle East are the largest non-US markets, all characterized by high direct normal irradiance and large, flat project sites well-suited to single-axis tracking. The company also has meaningful volume in Latin America, notably Brazil and Chile, and is expanding in Southern Europe where bifacial modules on trackers are becoming the standard configuration for new utility-scale plants.
How does the TrueCapture software platform contribute to Nextracker's business?
TrueCapture is a machine-vision and control-software system that adjusts each tracker row's tilt angle independently based on real-time shading, terrain slope, and diffuse light conditions. It is sold as an add-on to the mechanical tracker system and typically adds 2–6% in annual energy yield over a baseline backtracking algorithm. The software also includes hail-stow and high-wind modes, which reduce insurance risk for asset owners—making it a retention tool that ties hardware customers to an ongoing software relationship.
What was the significance of the Ojjo acquisition for Nextracker's product line?
The September 2023 acquisition of Ojoo brought in a patented truss-style solar-pile foundation system that reduces steel and concrete usage and is designed to handle rocky, undulating terrain where conventional driven piles fail or require expensive drilling. Integrating foundation engineering into the tracker supply contract allows Nextracker to offer a more complete mechanical package to developers and address growing concern about foundation-related schedule delays on utility-scale projects.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
Need institutional-grade insight on family offices?
Altss delivers:
Prefer a guided tour?
We’ll walk you through: