Residential Solar Company Sungevity Raises $15M

Residential solar company Sungevity has raised an additional $15 million toward its Series C funding round led by existing investors including Greener Capital and Firelake Capital along with new investor Brightpath Capital Partners. Sungevity has now raised more than $25 million.

"Broader resources will allow this company to serve an exploding market for solar leases, enabling more U.S. homeowners to get the benefits of solar without having to front the full cost of their systems," said board member A. George "Skip" Battle, who also serves on the boards of Netflix, LinkedIn and OpenTable.

According to a new report by IDC Energy Insights, the rate of North American solar installations is expected to double in 2011 and companies that provide solar leasing and power purchase agreements (PPAs) to residential and commercial property owners are expected to increase their market share to over 50%.

Sungevity grew the number of kilowatts sold more than ten-fold in 2010 as it rolled out a solar lease. Sungevity’s market position in the residential solar grew from 0.4% of the Californian market to 2.9%, the company said.

Sungevity said this makes it the fastest growing solar company in the US, with far less capital invested than many competitors. Sungevity has more than tripled its staff in 2010, while creating scores of indirect solar jobs for its network of solar installers across the West, the company said.

"We’ve made it easy and affordable for the average homeowner to switch to solar with our unique online sales process and best-in-breed solar lease," said Danny Kennedy, Founder of Sungevity. "We’re in a unique position because we are the only company to offer a firm quote within 24 hours without a site visit. We’re now removing the last barriers to mass adoption of solar electricity across the US."

Off to a fast start this year, Sungevity expanded into a number of new markets including Southern California, Arizona, and Colorado. In total they have helped more than 1000 households go solar. In October alone, the company booked more than 1 megawatt (MW) of leases and interconnected 500kw to the grid.

Sungevity was recently featured in a cover story in USA Today as a prime case of smart companies using business intelligence to disrupt categories with its unique Remote Solar Design capability and in dozens of other articles for leading the fight against Prop 23 in California’s election.

So far this year Sungevity has sold or leased more than 4.7 MW of solar.