Sungevity Raises Additional $15 Million to Spread Easy & Affordable Solar to Homeowners Across the Nation

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Sungevity, the nation's fastest growing provider of residential solar installations, today announced that it 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, an Oakland impact investment fund. Sungevity has now raised more than $25 million; this money will support its mission to spread affordable solar to homeowners across the nation next year.

"Continued support from existing and new investors is a testament to the success of Sungevity's unique and highly efficient internet business model," said board member A. George "Skip" Battle, who also serves on the boards of Netflix, LinkedIn and OpenTable. "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."

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 popular solar lease and customer interest skyrocketed. Sungevity's market position in the residential solar grew from 0.4% of the Californian market to 2.9% - an industry leading leap. This makes it the fastest growing solar company in the US, with far less capital invested than many competitors. To accommodate this growth, Sungevity has more than tripled its staff in 2010, while creating scores of indirect jobs for its network of solar installers across the West.

"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."

2010 – A Year of Expansion and National Impact

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 of leases and interconnected 500kw to the grid.

Sungevity was the voice behind the Globama campaign to put Solar on the White House -- which garnered national attention and also influenced international leaders -- including the Maldives' President Mohamed Nasheed. He invited Sungevity to install solar on his nation's 'white house.'

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.

Saving Money and the Planet

So far this year Sungevity has sold or leased more than 4.7 MW of solar. The systems installed this year will have the following benefits EACH YEAR they are in operation (the warranted life of these systems is 25 years):

- 4824 tons of CO2 offset

- 15.7 million car miles offset

- 28.6 thousand trees planted

About Sungevity

Sungevity has designed a unique online sales process to make it easy and affordable for homeowners to go solar. Sungevity's Solar Lease offer gives most customers savings from the start. For many the electricity bill savings start immediately and increase over time. Sungevity has an easy online "iQuote" process, which enables Sungevity to use satellite images and aerial photography to assess customers' roofs remotely and accurately determine the homes' solar potential. This allows the company to furnish thousands of customers with a firm proposal to use solar power with no capital cost within 24 hours.

SOURCE Sungevity