SolarSquare Bags $40 Mn To Spur Adoption Of Solar Solutions

SUMMARY

Led by Lightspeed, the round also saw participation from Lightrock, Elevation Capital, Lowercarbon, Nithin Kamath’s Rainmatter and Gruhas Proptech

The cleantech startup will use the fresh capital to expand its operations, bolster tech stack, hire talent and invest in brand building

Founded in 2015, SolarSquare operates as a full-stack residential solar brand that handles everything from design to installation as well as enabling financing and maintenance

Rooftop solar solutions startup SolarSquare has raised $40 Mn (about INR 340 Cr) in its Series B funding round led by Lightspeed.

The round also saw participation from Lightrock as well as existing investors such as Elevation Capital, Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon, Nithin Kamath’s Rainmatter, and Gruhas Proptech.

The cleantech startup plans to use the fresh capital to expand its operations to 50 cities across India from 20 cities currently, hire talent, and invest in brand building. A part of the proceeds will also be utilised to bolster its tech arm and build an asset management tech stack for remote monitoring and diagnostics of residential solar systems.

The startup will invest heavily in building a state-of-the-art asset management tech stack for remote monitoring and diagnostics of residential solar systems.

Founded in 2015 by Shreya Mishra, Neeraj Jain and Nikhil Nahar, SolarSquare Energy initially operated as a B2B rooftop solar solutions startup but later forayed into the B2C segment in 2021. Currently, SolarSquare operates as a full-stack residential solar brand that handles everything from design to installation, government permits, enabling financing and maintenance.

“Only 1% of homes in India have adopted solar so far – we want to accelerate solar adoption… And that’s why we are the first company in India to offer rooftop solar with a promise of guaranteed savings, taking responsibility for not just the installation but also the performance of solar thereafter,” said SolarSquare cofounder and CEO Mishra.

This comes weeks after reports surfaced that SolarSquare was in talks to raise $30 Mn in a fresh round led by Lightspeed at a valuation of $130 Mn, up 2.7X from its previous valuation of $47.7 Mn.

The fundraise also comes months after the startup bagged $4.2 Mn from Zerodha Technology and Nikhil Kamath’s Gruhas Proptech.

Including the current round, SolarSquare has raised nearly $60 Mn in funding to date. It is also backed by the likes of Vidit Atrey and Sanjeev Barnwal of Meesho, UrbanLadder’s Ashish Goyal, Paytm’s Vijay Shekhar Sharma, among others.

Since its inception, SolarSquare claims to have “acquired” 20,000 homes and 200+ cooperative housing societies as customers across the country.

On the financial front, SolarSquare’s net loss ballooned 275% to INR 30 Cr in the financial year 2022-23 (FY23) from INR 8 Cr in the previous fiscal. Operating revenue jumped 32% to INR 107 Cr during the year under review from INR 81 Cr in FY22.

The development comes at a time when growing demand and adoption of green energy products is fuelling the rise of new cleantech startups in the country. More than a dozen cleantech and climate tech-focussed funds were launched in India in 2023.

In September, cleantech startup Exposome bagged INR 15 Cr in its Pre-Series A funding round led by Colossa Ventures. In August, Kazam raised $8 Mn in its Series A3 funding round led by Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia and India.