The solar power industry is booming, this year. A total of $239 billion was invested in large- and small-scale solar systems, making up two-thirds of total global renewable energy investment over the first six months of 2013 and marking a staggering 43% rise compared to 1H 2022.
We’ve also seen several solar startups, including Exeger, Sunsave and more grab funding recently. Now Soly, the solar energy startup from the Netherlands has announced that it has closed an investment totalling €30M. The capital from this round will enable the company to expand in new countries – including Italy, Spain, France, and Scandinavia – and offer their energy services. Further, their goal is to supply 500K+ households & businesses with renewable energy by 2030.
The raise was led by the international climate venture capital firm, ArcTern Ventures in partnership with US-based Fifth Wall, the largest asset manager focused on improving, future-proofing, and decarbonising today’s built world. Existing investors Shell Ventures & the pension fund ABP completed the round.
“With Soly, our mission is to make solar energy available to everyone. This investment will propel our ability to help more people and businesses, in even more countries, to switch to sustainable and affordable energy,” said Patrick van der Meulen, CEO and co-founder, Soly. “I am immensely proud of our team’s accomplishments and the trust of our clients over the past decade. I am thrilled to have these impact-driven partners.”
“Soly’s comprehensive, multi-product approach and their great customer and installer platforms, in tandem with its well-proven ability to enter into new geographies with capital and time efficiency, uniquely positions the company to become a utility of the future in Europe,” shared Miguel Nigorra, a Partner and the Head of Europe for Fifth Wall. “In Europe alone, the solar market represents a more than €3.2 trillion opportunity. We are looking forward to partnering with Patrick, Milan, and their market leading team – as they enter into their next phase of transformational growth.”
Mira Inbar, ArcTern Ventures: “If we are going to make meaningful progress on climate change, the energy transition will require homes to electrify on a massive scale. Soly is the only truly digital solar sales platform in Europe with compelling unit economics and impressive growth across multiple countries. Soly is uniquely positioned to be a leader of home electrification in Europe and we are thrilled to accompany them on this journey of growth.”
Milan van der Meulen, co-founder, explains, “The energy transition has long ceased to revolve solely around generating energy. In the coming phase, forecasting as well as managing renewable energy will be crucial. In 2023, we launched our home energy management system: the Soly Brain®. Based on our dynamic energy contract – it intelligently controls solar panels, home batteries and charging stations, among other things to create an additional revenue model for the end-user. Eventually, we’ll bundle our users into a Virtual Power Plant to actively balance the energy grid and offer new services. In 2024, we’ll install the first energy networks in the Netherlands & Germany.”
Soly is an international Clean Energy Tech company with a mission to make solar energy available to everyone. The company was
Founded in the summer of 2013 by brothers Patrick and Milan van der Meulen ( inspired by Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”), Soly is on a mission to make solar energy available to everyone.
The company is today one of the European market leaders in the field of decentralised energy generation and storage through solar panels, batteries and charging stations. Soly focuses on the residential and business markets and is active in the Netherlands, South Africa (2019), Belgium (2022), Germany (2023) and the United Kingdom (2023).
By developing its proprietary software platform, Soly is one of the most capital-efficient energy providers with only 140 employees across five countries. The Soly platform won a spot in the Deloitte Technology Fast50 in 2021 and since 2018 B Corp certified.
Strong growth despite A challenging market
The transition from fossil energy to decentralised & renewable energy is characterised by exponential growth but also by erratic market conditions. Driven by extremely high energy prices, the European solar market grew 40-percent in 2022, in the latter part of 2023 market demand fell sharply.
Due in part to its rapid international expansion, new products, and proprietary software platform, Soly tripled its sales in 2023 compared to 2022. Soly operates in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, selling and leasing solar energy systems, batteries, and charging stations.
