A daily newsletter summarizing recent activity & interesting startups in the energy storage sector globally
RECENT NOTABLE ACTIVITY – SOLAR ENERGY
- Mera Gao Power has raised $2.5M in equity funding from the Insitor Seed, the ENGIE Rassembleurs d’Energies Initiative and the Electrification Financing Initiative with the support of Impact Investment Exchange. Link
- Namasté Solar raises $3.1M from more than 91 investors, including two institutional funds. Link
- Sunlight Financial secures $500M financing from Tech CU for 20,000 residential solar loans. Link
- Sunsystem Technology has secured $5M in growth capital from Royalty North Partners for growth in its national O&M and EPC branches. Link
- Solaris Offgrid has raised more than $1M to fund R&D initiatives in Solar Energy. Link
- Solar energy firm Xago Africa raises funding from USTDA to build a utility scale solar power plant in Siaya County. Link
- Siva Power raises $25M to continue developing low‑cost solar module technology. Link
- Vivint Solar has secured tax equity commitments totaling $100M from two repeat investors. Link
- Canadian Solar announces investment in eNow, a solar-based power management system developer for commercial transportation. Link
- Mercedes-Benz Energy and Vivint Solar team up to bring home energy storage system to the U.S. Link
SOME INTERESTING STARTUPS FOUND
Solar Labs (Mandi, 2017) – Solar Labs is currently developing an image recognition technology that would make the automatic quote generation process easier and adaptable at a mass scale. They are also working on a 3D Modelling technology that would ultimately enable shading analysis. The company is planning on operating a marketplace model to bring forth these two technologies for easier project development, where the installers can meet potential customers.
LEADER BOARD – SOLAR ENERGY
Hardware Developer
SunPower (1985, Athens, IPO) – Designs and manufactures high-efficiency silicon solar cells and solar panels based on an all-back contact cell having all-black appearance. Went public in November, 2005.
BrightSource Energy (2004, Oakland, $805M) – Designs and builds large scale solar plants that deliver solar energy in the form of steam and/or electricity. Backed by Google, Morgan Stanley, DFJ among others.
Independent Power Producer
Silicon Ranch (2011, Nashville, $288M) – Integrated solar service provider focusing on developing utility-scale solar plants and offering turnkey Solar EPC services. Backed by Partners Group and Greystone.
Nippon Renewable Energy (2013, Tokyo, $250M) – Solar energy developer which manages and operates solar power facilities from the development and construction stages through to the operational stage. Backed by Equis Capital Partners and Partners Group.
Project Developers
Solairedirect (2006, Paris, $341M, Acq.) – Owns and operates solar farms as well as undertakes solar EPC contracts. The company has presence in France, India, America, Latin America among other countries. Backed by IADB, Capital Stage, Blackrock, Demeter Partners among other.
Brite Energy (2014, Romeoville, $264M) – Brite Energy offers solar installation services to residential and commercial spaces. The company is backed by Protection 1 (USA’s full-service security company) and co-owned by GTCR
Solar-as-a-service
SolarCity (2006, San Mateo, IPO, Acq.) – Full-service solar provider for homeowners, businesses and government organizations. Backed by Bank of America, DFJ, SilverLake Partners etc., among others. IPO-ed in December 2012.
Sunnova (2010, Houston, $1.1B) – Integrated solar installation, finance, and solar leasing services. Backed by Triangle Peak Partners, Franklin Square Capital Partners etc., among others.
Solar Products
Envision Solar (2006, San Diego, IPO) – Designs and builds solar trees and solar powered parking structures. Went public in May 2010.
Petra Systems (2006, South Plainfield, $40M) – Company offers smart light controller, solar power generator, wireless networking, support for surveillance & sensor networks, network gateways and battery backup. Backed by ES Ventures, Element Partners etc., among others.
Solar Financing
Solarbao (2014, Shanghai, $40M) – Solarbao gives regular retail investors a chance to make low risk investments in solar power stations. Investors buy solar panels, lease them to solarbao.com.hk. When they sign the entrusted financial lease contract, the panels are installed in power stations, and fixed monthly returns are paid to the investors.
Software Solutions
Fat Spaniel (2003, San Jose, $28M, Acq.) – Independent provider of critical monitoring and reporting services for the renewable energy industry. The company’s solutions are utilized by solar power producers, financiers, system integrators, and OEMs
Leaderboard includes all the top funded, IPO and successfully running bootstrapped companies along with their location, founding year and funding amount.
For latest updates, visit Solar Energy feed.