US solar developer Sungevity has announced the completion of a series of venture capital and project financings which, together, have secured the company up to US$125 million in funding.
The extra capital includes US$40 million in equity financings raised in 2012 led by Oakland-based impact investment fund, Brightpath Capital Partners, and home improvement retailer, Lowe's.
New equity investors Vision Ridge Partners, Craton Equity Partners and Eastern Sun Capital Partners, LLC, also participated. The funding also includes a combined US$85 million in new project financing commitments from two parties. The parties are: Energy Capital Partners (ECP), an energy infrastructure-focused private equity firm with over US$7.5 billion in capital commitments and the second party is an unmanned commercial bank.
Sungevity's new project financings will be used to support the development of solar projects across the nine states the company currently services Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. The company also has a presence in Europe through Netherlands-based Zonline, and in Australia through a joint venture called Sungevity Australia.
“Our ability to attract substantial investment from a list of respected backers is a powerful vote of confidence in our highly scalable growth model and customer-centric approach to doing business,” said Andrew Birch, Sungevity's Chief Executive Officer.
“We believe this new funding will take us into the next phase of growth and allow us to deliver on our mission of building the world's most energised network of customers who power their lives with sunshine.”
Rob Davenport, Brightpath Capital's Managing Partner, said: “While overshadowed by news in the solar manufacturing sector, the downstream market, particularly residential solar, continues to experience rapid growth.”
