The World Fund supports an increased increase in Sweden’s solar roof
Climate tech LP unit Global Fund participates in the latest increase of 13.5 million euros for the start of Swedish solar cell installation Sunroofin what is being billed as a “growth finance extension” to the round, now totaling €28.5m.
As with Dresden-based Sunnmaxx, tracked by Tech.eu earlier todaySunRoof provides “2-in-one” solar panels that produce electricity.
What is different, however, is that SunRoof primarily targets residential and commercial rooftops, allowing customers to disconnect from the grid. Customers also get a comprehensive service, for example through software for energy management, storage and an app for consumption monitoring.
SunRoof’s range goes without saying; the startup focuses mainly on Swedish households while Sunnmaxx is based in Germany, although SunRoof does German in-roads as well and Poland is also on its radar.
With the latest funding, it wants to continue to expand to consolidate in its three operating markets and will appoint a new operational office to support these goals.
Lech KaniukSunRoof CEO and Co-Founder, said: “The energy transition is not a plan for the future, it is the task we must carry out now.
“This year has already proven that, with Europe overwhelmed by heat waves and shadowed by energy security. SunRoof is on a mission to not only help homeowners meet their own needs, but also to contribute to the future clean energy infrastructure.”
So far it seems like pretty standard solar, but SunRoof sells the strength of its product design with innovative panel facades that reduce the area taken up by each solar panel, allowing them to fit on top of smaller roofs than the competition. There is an emissions gain as well. Solar energy is much less carbon intensive than fossil fuels, but there are still emissions involved in supply chains, and also in decommissioning at the end of its life. Having a smaller form factor for hybrid solar generation should help reduce that some of these emissions.
The Global Fund is joined by a large CVC as climate technology has confirmed, in the form of Legal and general capitalthe strategic investment arm of the insurance company Legal & General.
L&G’s participation is notable as insurers are constantly exploring options to reduce exposure to emissions. Getting a strategic investor of his caliber through the door will be seen as quite a win.
Nordic Alpha Partners also subscribed to the extension which increased an earlier amount of EUR 15 million led by Klima Energy Transition, a growth equity fund led by the investment bank Alantra which closed its last close at 210 million euros in September.
In the same month, Klima invested in the initial tranche of 15 million euros together with VC funds Inovo VC, SMOK Ventures, Alpha beat and Level2 Venturestogether with business angels including elite skier turned entrepreneur Jon Olsson.
SunRoof is led by its founder Lech Kaniuk, a serial entrepreneur credited with previous roles growing prominent European startups Delivery heroPizzaPortal and iTaxi.
Alantra’s managing partner for Energy Transitions, Lucille Bonnet, says decentralized solar power is key to a comprehensive electrification program targeting households and electrifying transport networks.
“Electrification of homes and transport will be key to accelerating the energy transition, and we expect decentralized solar to play an important role in enabling this, says Bonnet. environmentally no-brainer and this represents a multi-billion addressable market. We are excited to partner with Sunroof’s highly experienced and ambitious management team to power the homes and commercial buildings of the future.”