SunRun, a leading residential solar company closed a Series C round of funding for $55 million led by Sequoia Capital and joined by existing investors Accel Partners and Foundation Capital.
SunRun plans to use the funding for expansion of solar-as-a-service into new U.S. markets.
SunRun owns the solar panels installed on its customers' homes. Homeowners then make monthly payments for the electricity, allowing them to switch to solar power without the initial costs.
SunRun provides maintenance, monitoring, repairs, insurance and a money-back performance guarantee for every customer.
SunRun says its customer base has grown by over 400% in the past year, and the company has over 4,500 customers across five states--Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
This funding round follows an announcement by SunRun and PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) earlier this month of a $100 million tax equity project financing agreement to fund SunRun’s installation of more than 3,500 new home solar installations across the nation. SunRun claims to be the largest owner of residential solar in the
nation.
SunRun CEO Edward Fenster and President Lynn Jurich started SunRun as classmates at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 2007.
Sequoia Capital has backed market leaders across categories, including Google, Linkedin, PayPal, YouTube, Cisco, and Oracle. The investment in SunRun is part of Sequoia Capital’s growth stage fund, and is the latest notable investment in clean technology by Sequoia Capital across China, India, Israel and the United States.
