EnergySage Secures $1.5 Million in Series-A Financing
EnergySage has announced a $1.5 million Series-A round of funding to accelerate the national expansion of its online solar energy marketplace. Launchpad Venture Group led the round with participation from The New York Angels and the Clean Energy Venture Group. This strategic financing comes during a period of explosive growth for EnergySage, whose industry-first solar comparison-shopping platform is boosting solar adoption around the country by helping consumers and business owners make well-informed decisions that yield greater returns on their solar investments.
Combined with previous seed-round funding from angel investors, an award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) as well as two Department of Energy (DOE) SunShot Initiative Awards, this Series-A financing brings EnergySage's total funding to more than $4 million. The new resources will be used to help the company amplify its sales and marketing efforts, building greater awareness of its groundbreaking solar comparison-shopping platform and expanding partnerships with businesses, municipalities, non-profits, utilities and a variety of other organizations striving to promote clean energy adoption. EnergySage currently operates in 30 states nationwide and expects to expand its footprint to all 50 states by year end 2015.
The EnergySage marketplace has transformed solar shopping by providing "“ in one place "“ all the information about solar energy systems consumers or business owners need to make a well-informed decision about solar installations. EnergySage enables users to quickly research and compare turnkey solar energy systems, explore financing options and obtain multiple price quotes from more than 250 high-quality, pre-screened solar installers. Consumers using EnergySage adopt solar at rates two to three times higher than industry norms and pay prices that are up to 20 percent less than market averages.
The marketplace also provides solar installers access to a large pool of knowledgeable prospective clients, giving them the ability to reduce customer acquisition costs and efficiently grow their businesses. With EnergySage, installers' sales cycles are 70 percent shorter and their customer acquisition costs drop by more than 50 percent compared to other channels.
In conjunction with this funding, EnergySage also welcomed Gail Greenwald of Launchpad Venture Group to its board of directors. She joins board members Robert Gervis, also of Launchpad, and Tibor Toth of Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, an additional stakeholder in the company. "EnergySage's early success demonstrates the tremendous potential to be realized by simultaneously addressing the challenges faced by both consumers and installers," said Greenwald. "This round of funding will fuel the company's continued expansion, resulting in more rapid adoption of solar."
"This new funding will enable us to expand our reach, connecting with more communities countrywide to bring desperately needed simplicity, transparency and choice to the process of solar energy shopping," said Vikram Aggarwal, CEO of EnergySage. "The solar industry is growing, but it's not meeting its full potential because solar is a complicated topic and a serious investment, and people haven't had easy access to the data and unbiased information they need to truly evaluate all of their options. The EnergySage marketplace uniquely addresses this problem by empowering people to shop for solar power systems like they shop for anything else"”making apples-to-apples comparisons."
