At Climate Angels Fund, our core philosophy is simple: back visionary entrepreneurs solving pressing climate challenges with scalable tech and sustainable business models. In 2021, we saw a compelling opportunity in SolarSquare—a then-early mover transforming how residential solar was being delivered in India. Fast-forward to 2024, and that bet has paid off in more ways than one.
Bridging the Residential Solar Gap
India has long been a global leader in solar capacity additions, but the spotlight has mostly been on utility-scale projects. Residential rooftop solar remained the overlooked cousin—riddled with operational inefficiencies, opaque pricing, and fragmented execution. While awareness was growing, adoption was painfully slow.
Enter SolarSquare.
Founded in 2015 as a B2B solar solutions provider, the company pivoted to the residential segment in 2019–2020. With Shreya Mishra joining the founding team, SolarSquare reinvented itself as a full-stack, direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand. Their proposition? Make going solar as easy as ordering furniture online—standard pricing, quick installations, end-to-end project management, and financing options built in.
Why We Invested
Our thesis was rooted in three interlocking insights:
1. A Massive, Underserved Market
Despite having 300+ sunny days a year and some of the world’s highest urban electricity tariffs, rooftop solar penetration in India was under 1% in 2021. We believed this gap was not due to a lack of demand—but due to poor execution models. SolarSquare’s entry was well-timed to capture a segment we knew was on the cusp of breakout growth.
2. A Scalable, Full-Stack Model
Most existing players were either local installers or pure tech platforms—neither could own the customer journey end-to-end. SolarSquare offered a D2C approach with fixed pricing, pre-approved financing, and digital-first sales and service delivery. This model not only improved margins and customer satisfaction but also offered a path to national scalability.
3. Tailwinds from Policy and Tech
By 2021, regulatory tailwinds were becoming stronger: net metering policies, government subsidies, and digital approvals were all pointing toward faster rooftop adoption. The potential for tech-led optimization in site assessments, CRM, and remote project management made this an execution game—one SolarSquare was poised to win.
What sealed the deal for us, though, was the team. The co-founders brought a rare mix of operational depth and startup hustle. Their clarity of thought, product obsession, and disciplined scaling approach gave us the conviction to invest.
What They've Achieved Since
The numbers speak for themselves.
Geographic Expansion: From a handful of cities to 18 major urban centers across India, including high-demand markets like Delhi-NCR, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh.
Customer Scale: Over 20,000 homes and 200 housing societies onboarded by 2024.
Revenue Surge: A staggering 622% revenue growth in just three years, with healthy unit economics and declining CAC.
Brand Trust: 5,000+ Google reviews and a #1 ranking on the National Solar Portal, testaments to both performance and trust.
Environmental Impact: 4.3 crore kilograms of CO₂ emissions avoided in 2024 alone, equivalent to planting 600,000 trees.
All of this culminated in their latest milestone—a $40 million round in December 2024, representing a 12x valuation increase from when we first invested.
Looking Ahead
India’s residential solar capacity is projected to more than double by 2030. With falling hardware costs, supportive policies, and rising electricity bills, SolarSquare’s market is not just growing, it’s exploding. We believe the company is uniquely positioned to own this category.
From day one, SolarSquare was about more than clean energy, it was about making climate tech consumer-friendly. That’s what excites us most. As they continue to expand nationally and deepen their tech stack, we see even greater potential on the horizon: battery integration, home energy management systems, and smart grid participation.
Final Word
Our investment in SolarSquare exemplifies Climate Angels Fund’s strategy in action: identify high-leverage inflection points in climate markets and back exceptional founders who can execute relentlessly. What began as a seed-stage bet has now grown into a leading force in India’s solar story, and we’re just getting started.
We’re proud to have played a role in SolarSquare’s journey and look forward to the next chapter as they help power millions of Indian homes, cleanly, efficiently, and affordably.
