Solar Financing Startup Aerem Raises $5 Million in Equity Plus Debt Round

Solar financing platform Aerem has raised $5 million in Pre-Series A round led ​​by climate-tech investor Avaana Capital. The round also saw follow-on participation from Blume Ventures and it includes debt financing of $1.5 million from financial institutions. Financing has been a key issue seen to impact uptake of solar in the MSME segment, and Aerem seeks to solve for that.

The Mumbai-headquartered Aerem will utilize these funds to expand its suite of innovative solartech and financing solutions to enable end-to-end solutions for rooftop solar projects.

In July 2022, Aerem raised $2.5 million in pre Series A led by Blume Ventures.

Founded in 2021 by Anand Jain, Aerem’s platform provides a 360-degree assistance to MSMEs to help them harness the power of solar energy and reduce their electricity costs by up to 70%. To do this, Aerem has built up a network of installers to facilitate the implementation of high-quality rooftop solar systems. It also offers hassle-free loans through its in-house Non-Banking Financial Company (NBFC) and partner banks.

According to Aerem, it brings on board deep domain expertise in both finance and solar and is best placed to enable and scale the sector.

Very few startups in solar space managed to attract VC money in the past couple of years. In November, Mumbai-based startup SolarSquare had scooped up $12 million led by Elevation Capital and Lower carbon.

More recently, distributor Redington has also ventured into solar EPC through a platform approach, using its network of suppliers and financing tie-ups to seek a larger part of the growing solar market.

In 2023, we estimate the size of the non discom solar market comprising commercial, industrial and residential sector to be anywhere between 5 GW to 7 GW possibly, a multi billion dollar opportunity.