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Backed by Leonardo DiCaprio, YC alum SolarMente wants to help democratize solar power in Spain

TechBrunchBy TechBrunchMarch 12, 20246 Mins Read
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Sunlight is one of the cleanest forms of energy and the EU is determined to make sure we harness the giant fusion balls in the sky to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Indeed, as part of its REPowerEU plan, the European Commission is considering introducing regulations that would require the installation of rooftop solar energy panels on most new and public and commercial buildings by 2026.

However, not all European countries receive a lot of sunlight. Spain is one of the sunniest countries in Europe, so you might think solar power would be popular. Peak sunshine hours in Spain are comparable to those on the west coast of the United States. However, Spain still lags behind Germany and the Netherlands in the number of domestic solar panel installations, which is partly due to the country's historic “solar tax,” which the country abolished in 2018. tax) may have an impact. , some startups are finally starting to take steps to make the most of this opportunity.

Barcelona-based SolarMente aims to turn solar installations into the mainstay of Spanish homes. Wouter Draijer, CEO and co-founder of the company, told TechCrunch that the company was founded after flying to Barcelona and seeing how few solar panels were installed on rooftops in Spain compared to his native Netherlands. He said that it was the trigger. He teamed up with Victor Gardrinier, a Frenchman who studied at HEC Montreal and Stanford, to found the company.

Dreyer said the company started as a solar panel installer in Spain, but after the pandemic decided it should offer solar energy management systems. In hindsight, given that the panel installation market is already covered by specialized companies and the falling cost of panels could make his DIY efforts more attractive to homeowners. This was probably a wise choice. There are also several competing startups, including Lumio Solar, which won the Most Sustainable Startup Award at Madrid's South Summit 2023, and Tornasol, whose kit can be installed on your balcony and can be paid in installments through the BNPL platform SeQura.

“Solar power is not a product,” Dreier said, explaining why most Spaniards are unable or unwilling to pay upfront for solar panels. His point is that people care less about owning a panel and more about what a panel can do for them.

That's why SolarMente offers a subscription-based energy management service that includes solar panel installation with no upfront costs. And rather than targeting people living in apartments, the company prefers selling to individual homes because it's easier from a regulatory standpoint and there are more opportunities, Driedger said. .

“We start with solar power, but most customers come back to us as we analyze the data, install batteries and EV chargers, heat pumps, and start managing that energy. can do.”

The Y Combinator alum recently added actor Leonardo DiCaprio to its cap table, making it its first investment in Spain.

solar arbitrage

With solar power generation, it is essential to manage when and how much energy is consumed. Gardlinier explains on X Thread In 2023, “arbitrage existed between the price at which households purchased energy from the grid and the price at which households sold energy back to the grid.”

Gardrinier told TechCrunch that this arbitrage led to the company's focus on energy management. Initially, they were interested in how homes with solar panels could trade solar energy with their peers on the blockchain.

This interest helped SolarMente win a blockchain-focused hackathon and launch a virtual battery service, but the next step in the startup's journey doesn't include a full-fledged deal . Instead, the startup wants to help homeowners optimize their energy consumption with a super app that helps them decide when to consume or sell the energy their solar panels produce. thinking about.

Among the team members, Mr. Gardrinier is most closely involved in fundraising, and explained the financing for Solar Maintenance so far as follows: So in our first $2 million seed round, the YC round, with a very basic team, we showed that solar could work in Spain as well. And last year, we did an even larger round, mostly debt. We built a huge debt structure to finance our solar installations. With this, we wanted to prove that we could democratize solar power by offering it as a subscription service for the price of a gym membership. ”

DiCaprio's newly announced investment is part of a larger equity seed round focused on acquiring the solar maintenance needed to raise a Series A. “We're using this round to really power our super app for home energy,” Gardrinier said.

Celebrity Endorsements

Although this is DiCaprio's first investment in Spain, he has been investing in tech startups since at least 2011. DiCaprio is also famous for being vocal about climate change, calling attention to it in his acceptance speech at the 2016 Oscar ceremony.

While not all of the actor's investments are related to climate change and green technology, many of them have sustainability themes, including AllBirds, Beyond Meat, and Styrofoam alternative company Cruz Foam. It also helped for SolarMente that water risk management platform Waterplan, one of his YC summer 2021 batchmates, had already been in touch with DiCaprio.

Mr. Driedger and Mr. Gardrinier eventually met Mr. DiCaprio and said, “Each time we talked about the business and the vision for the energy transition. [DiCaprio] He put down his phone and showed me one of the projects he's working on, including distributed storage. ”

Perhaps it helped that SolarMente's approach wasn't entirely new to the actor. DiCaprio previously invested in Bright, a startup that installs solar power in homes and businesses across Mexico. Similar to SolarMente, the company graduated from Y Combinator and raised $31.5 million in Series C in July 2023.

Will Bright and SolarMente ever partner up? Probably. But first, SolarMente wants to expand further across Spain, and its subscription solar service just became available nationwide, Draijer told TechCrunch.

There is no doubt that SolarMente has room to grow, considering how sunny Spain is and how poorly equipped it is yet. Although it is a slightly more “luxury” product due to its focus on private homes, it can still play a role in reducing the stress that fluctuating energy prices are bringing to Spanish households. What's more, the approach could also play a role in promoting EV adoption, another area where Spain has room for improvement.





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