Solar installation and financing start-up SolarSquare on November 3 announced that it has raised Rs 100 Crore in a Series A round led by Elevation Capital and Lowercarbon, Chris Sacca’s multi-billion dollar climate-tech fund.
The round also saw participation from existing investors Good Capital, Rainmatter and also angels such as Meesho’s Vidit Atrey and Sanjeev Barnwal.
The start-up had raised Rs 30 crore in a seed round in June led by Good Capital, along with participation from Lowercarbon, Symphony Asia, Rainmatter, Better Capital and GoMassive.
The fresh capital raised will be used on expanding operations pan-India in the next 18-24 months. Currently the company operates in Bengaluru, Delhi, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. SolarSquare plans to invest extensively towards launching its in-house NBFC to give 5-min loan approvals to residential solar buyers.
The company also plans to develop technology across the board such as - a consumer app for monitoring solar electricity generation, building robust back-end technology dashboards across the customer journey - from order booking to installation, and merchant side apps for installation and sales partners.
SolarSquare operates regional warehouses in a hub and spoke model. At present, the team size is around 200, by the end of 2023, they plan to add 100 more. The company is also boosting its leadership hiring.
Founded in 2015 by Neeraj Jain, IIT Bombay graduate and Nikhil Nahar, ex-Panasonic, the company started with B2B projects of design, installation and financing of solar panels. In 2020, third co-founder Shreya Mishra, a serial entrepreneur and IIT Bombay graduate came onboard. The company then decided to become direct to customer brand, working on residential projects mostly in the non-metros.
For its B2B business the company has worked with big names including Jindal Steel, Unilever, Panasonic, Reliance and Johnson & Johnson to name a few, Mishra, founder and CEO told Moneycontrol.
Average order value for residential projects for the start-up is around Rs 1.5-2 lakhs.
Setting up an NBFC
In the next 18-24 months, the start-up will be applying for an NBFC license with the new funding.
Mishra said, “While solar is a great product, mass-adoption will require financing. This is not a value-added service, this is in fact linked to our core product. The market explosion will happen only with financing. Same trends were observed in China, the US and even Australia.”
“With the NBFC launch, we will be able to offer 5-year EMI financing. Right now customers can opt for six months zero percent interest charges. With this funding, we will apply for NBFC license,” she added.
Chris Sacca, billionaire venture investor and founder of Lowercarbon said, “Solar is now much cheaper and cleaner than digging up and burning old dinosaur bones, so putting it on your roof just makes sense, especially in a part of the world with as much sun as India. But getting panels installed wasn't always easy. We backed Shreya, Neeraj, and Nikhil because they've cracked the code on hassle-free rooftop solar."
Mukul Arora, Partner at Elevation Capital added, “SolarSquare’s full stack business model and product innovations provide a high quality experience to consumers and lay the foundation of building a tech-first home energy brand. Shreya, Neeraj and Nikhil’s customer obsession and in-depth experience in the solar industry positions them very strongly to become a leading company in the Indian ClimateTech arena, and we are thrilled to partner with them on this journey.”
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