Clean Power Finance closes US$25M investment from KPCB, names new CEO, three board members

Clean Power Finance (CPF) is in the midst of what is shaping up to be quite a promising month. The company recently closed a US$25 million investment led by new investor Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), received a US$3 million US Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot award and appointed three new board members and a new CEO.

The US$25 million investment was led by KPCB’s Green Growth Fund with additional financial participation from new investor Google Ventures and previous investors Claremont Creek Ventures, Clean Pacific Ventures and Sand Hill Angels. CPF advised that the investment would allow it to continue its mission to deliver more cost-efficiency point-of-sale financing to the US solar market.

“Clean Power Finance’s platform is transforming the way business is done in the residential solar industry,” said Ben Kortlang, KPCB partner and Clean Power Finance board member. “This platform will enable a highly efficient, growing, profitable value chain in the solar industry.”

In addition to its investment by KPCB, CPF was granted an Advanced Solar Technology Award by the US DOE’s SunShot Initiative. The US$3 million award will go towards the development of an open-source, online IT platform, which will contain databases of PV permitting requirements by the authorities that have jurisdiction and also feature turnkey IT solutions for installers and electric utility companies.

Along with the financial awards the company secured, CPF made some changes to its executive team. Robert “Nat” Kreamer was named the company’s new CEO and joins CPF from SunRun where he not only co-founded the company, but was also involved with SunRun’s first residential solar financing offer in 2007.

“I’ve been involved in residential solar financing since its inception,” said Kreamer. “Clean Power Finance is bringing a truly innovative finance offering to this rapidly growing market. Our disruptive model is a critical breakthrough for the industry, delivering more efficient, low-cost financing to a larger number of solar installers.”

CPF additionally appointed three new board members including Kristian Hanelt, senior VP of Renewable Capital Markets, Brian Robertson, CEO of Amonix and co-founder of SunEdison and Ed Feo, managing partner of USRG Renewable finance. Hanelt was previously VP of project finance at Tioga Energy and received his MBA from Stanford University with a BS from Boston University.

Robertson, former president and CFO of SunEdison, harbors 20-years of financial, manufacturing and execution experience and is the current CEO of Amonix. He received a BS in computer science from MIT and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Feo is a managing partner at USRG Renewable Finance. His past engagements include serving as a former partner at international law firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, where he co-chaired the project finance and energy practice. He was named as one of “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers” by The National Law Journal and one of the “Five Most Influential People in Renewable Energy” by Euromoney/Institutional Investor. Feo received his BA and JD from UCLA.