4 April 2014

Solar firm Sungevity raises $70m for expansion

Solar leasing firm Sungevity has secured $70 million in equity financing from a series of investors, it has announced.

The company, which currently delivers solar energy to households in nine US states, the District of Columbia, the Netherlands and Australia, has raised the money from a mixture of existing and new investors.

Utility E.ON, energy investor GE Ventures and Nashville-based fund Jetstream Ventures were among investors. The finance will support Sungevity's expansion in to other countries which are achieving grid parity.

According to a statement, the company's US sales doubled in 2013 and the firm's newer operations in the Netherlands and Australia are "scaling rapidly".

Sungevity's chief executive officer, Andrew Birch, said: "With E.ON and GE Ventures as equity investors, the Sungevity coalition now includes the world's largest investor-owned utility company [and] the company that built much of the planet's power infrastructure," adding that the deal would allow the company to become more dominant in the global market.

Sophie Robinson-Tillett