Solar software provider Aurora closes US$250m funding round
News
Sam Adeyemo and Chris Hopper, co-founders of Aurora Solar. Image: Aurora Solar.
Aurora Solar, a US-based company that has developed software to enable the remote design and sale of PV systems, has closed a US$250 million series C funding round.
Led by technology investment platform Coatue, with follow-on participation from existing investors ICONIQ Capital, Energize Ventures and Fifth Wall, the round takes the total raised by Aurora in the last two years to more than US$320 million.
As well as helping solar professionals to determine how many modules will fit on a property, Aurora said its software can be used to forecast how much energy a PV system will produce, to calculate how many batteries are needed for backup power and to show how much money customers can save by switching to solar.
Strong solar deal sealed in South Carolina southernenvironment.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from southernenvironment.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
GAF Energy builds out first combined R&D and manufacturing base in US
News
Image: GAF Energy
Integrated solar roofing firm GAF Energy has started moving its manufacturing base from Asia and building out its first combined research and development (R&D) and manufacturing centre in San Jose, California.
The company, a subsidiary of industrial group Standard Industries, said it has begun “critical improvements” on the 112,000sq ft facility to bring “traditionally offshored solar manufacturing to the US”.
In a statement, Standard Industries chief executives David Millstone and David Winter, said that the co-location of R&D and manufacturing will be a “huge benefit” for both the scientists “pushing the envelope on what’s possible for the product, and the engineers responsible for rolling it off the line.”
Investors punished these stocks for logging oversized rallies, but the recent sell-off is similarly overzealous given the quality of the companies in question.
US residential solar installer Kuubix bags US$104m financing to pursue ‘aggressive’ expansion
Image: Kuubix
Israeli developer Solegreen has invested US$104 million in solar installer Kuubix to help it pursue an “aggressive” expansion strategy across its core markets in the US.
As part of the deal, Solegreen will invest in Kuubix over the next two years to fund the expansion of its residential and commercial installation capacity in California, Texas, Nevada and Florida this year, before a national expansion in 2022.
Kuubix said in a statement that “substantial funding” would be used to create a “robust” direct-to-consumer marketing business dealing with appointments and lead generation.