A Pleasanton startup that's developing software to make solar installations and management more efficient for both installers and consumers announced a Series A round on Tuesday.
Enact Systems raised $11.5 million led by Energy Growth Momentum, NB Ventures, ARKA Venture Labs, Olympus Capital and Alumni Venture Funds. This brings its total funding to around $15 million, including a $1 million grant from the Department of Energy.
For installers, the company uses images from sources like satellites or even Google to map out a potential work site remotely, eliminating the need to measure buildings in-person.
The process saves installers both time and money, co-founder and CEO Deep Chakraborty told me.
“It’s like a digital model, you can imagine how it might look after it’s built. And they can do it with any solar manufacturer’s equipment,” Chakraborty said.
And consumers get an app which plugs into all of their electrical and utility data in order to manage usage and billing, as well as any backup power that they might be storing. Enact Systems currently charges homeowners $50 a year.
“The technology we have developed works for solar, of course, but also for battery storage,” Chakraborty said. “It’s not just being able to assess the performance of the backup battery but on the consumer app they can keep track of how much charge they have left.”
Renewable energy businesses might already be getting a boost from the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Joe Biden signed in August.
The law allocates $369 billion, a historic amount, to fund climate change mitigation efforts such as subsidies, investments and tax incentives for renewable energy products.
Despite the broader economic downturn causing many venture capital firms to pull back on investments, raising capital for a clean tech company this year has gotten a little easier.
“It’s always been difficult to raise in cleantech, we've faced that, and I think every cleantech startup will tell you the same,” Chakraborty said. ”It’s easier now than it was a year ago because of what has happened with the environment. Our mission is to clean up the planet and we’re seeing the transition to clean energy is necessary. And then what’s also happening with policy, the Inflation Reduction Act is improving the incentives.”
He’s also seeing a sharp increase in electric vehicle owners switching to solar as their main energy source at home, as well, especially in California.
Founded in 2014, Enact Systems says it currently serves thousands of customers in over 20 countries. For installers, subscriptions start at $99 monthly.
The company has also doubled its headcount over the past year, and Chakraborty expects to double its workforce, again. He plans on hiring sales and marketing employees as the company prepares to expand and grow its customer base.
Enact Systems already operates in the U.S., but its customer base here has been concentrated in California. The company will focus on expanding on the East Coast next.
Another Bay Area startup working on renewable energy also raised a significant amount of funding. On Sept. 13, San Francisco-based TeraWatt announced a $1 billion Series A to build out charging infrastructure for commercial and industrial electric vehicle fleets.
