US Residential Solar Financier GoodLeap Raises $800m

GoodLeap is set to expand beyond solar into the broader market for sustainable home improvement, options for carbon reduction and in the medium to long term, even EV’s and EV charging stations. The $800 m fund raise was led by MSD Partners, besides existing shareholders. With this fund raise, Goodleap’s valuation has risen to $12 billion. Formerly called Loanpal, Goodleap describes itself as a sustainable solutions marketplace, with a focus on funding said solutions on behalf of partners and for the end-customer.

To this end, the firm has built a proprietary marketplace that provides businesses with the digital tools needed to finance sustainable home products at scale, including the ability to group multiple products into a single loan.

GoodLeap claims that sustainable home upgrades is a $430 billion market in the US alone, giving it a good reason to focus on its home market for now. A thriving market for financial products, especially loans to solar projects means that the firm finds it easier to securitise and raise fresh funds on its portfolio.

The firm claims to have supported the deployment of more than US$9 billion in capital to allow customers to upgrade their homes with carbon-reducing solutions.

For Goodleap founder Hayes Barnard, the latest financing builds on a dream run since he quit Tesla owned SolarCity in 2016 after TEsla took it over. He has raised more than $1 billion in the past 10 months from names like Michael Dell and Laurence Tosi.

From financing solar rooftops and other residential solar systems, the expansion into carbon reduction projects opens up a new avenue of possibilities for the firm. With a solid platform to connect lenders, consumers and the vendors that build the projects, the firm hopes to build on its headstart in the future to grab a large share of this market. The company’s app connects installers to lenders to get loan approval while negotiating with homeowners. The company hopes to originate $5.2 billion of loans this year, up from $3.3 billion in 2020, according to reports.

The US solar residential market has been on a tear this year, defying covid linked slowdowns elsewhere to grow. Subsidies, as well as a strong consumer side interest have made it a booming market.