Aerem Secures Funding To Offer Credit To Indian Solar Companies

Solar financing startup Aerem has raised $2.5 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding led by Blume Ventures. 

Aerem will use the funds to grow its loan book, and build out a tech platform that would enable digital interaction with various stakeholders. Further, the startup will also hire teams including leadership in technology, product, finance, and operations.

Commenting on the fundraising, Anand Jain, founder of Aerem, said, “Our innovative SolarTech platform includes AAA (Aerem Asset Assurance) ensures quality rooftop solar systems, which combined with financing from our in-house NBFC or partner banks enable significant reduction in power bills of MSMEs. We offer a fully digitalised experience to MSMEs.”

Founded in 2021 by an MBA graduate from Yale University Anand Jain, Aerem offers full-stack financing solutions to solar companies in India. Its team along with the founder holds immense experience in the finance and solar industry.

To enable mass adoption of solar rooftops, Aerem closely works with solar installers and EPC companies by helping finance their solar customers to grow their businesses.

Ashish Fafadia, partner at Blume Ventures, added, “We are impressed with Anand’s vision and Aerem’s platform approach that includes credit. Their full-stack solution provides end-to-end engagement and is ahead of the market by one to two years. Solar is in a sweet spot where macro and micro factors are incredibly aligned. This is extremely rare for any sector.”

Aererm said it targets India’s MSME sector, which has a market potential of over $200 Bn. It aims to mitigate carbon emissions and increase the profitability of MSMEs. 

In the fintech industry, it competes with the likes of ARTH, Aye Finance and Lendingkart. 

India’s fintech industry, which is anticipated to touch $1.3 Tn by 2025, is widely affected owing to economic depression, drying funds, spike in federal interest rates and geopolitical tensions. The recent RBI’s guidelines commanding PPIs to stop loading credit to Indian consumers have come as a fatal blow to digital lenders such as slice, Jupiter and Fi, among others. 

Due to this, many BNPL and digital lenders have either stopped offering credit or mulling to pivot their business altogether. Besides, various fintech bodies also approached the Central Bank to seek clarity on the new PPI guidelines and also, requested a six-month extension to comply with the new norms.

While the market is jostled after the implementation of the new norm, regardless of the current situation, a slew of fundraisings such as Flexiloans securing $90 Mn and Innoviti raising $45 Mn have happened.