Delft, the Netherlands-based Solar Monkey, a solar panel software provider, announced on Wednesday that it has raised €4M in growth capital. The round was co-lead by Helen Ventures and Eneco.
Existing investors 4impact capital and InnovationQuarter also participated in the round. The Dutch company says it will use the funds to accelerate international expansion and strengthen the product offering.
Jan Pieter Versluijs, CEO and co-founder of Solar Monkey, says, “We see that the Netherlands is leading solartech innovation in software. We use our knowledge to generate impact in the rest of Europe. Thanks to this investment, we can pursue this ambition in the highest gear. Over the past five years, the Dutch market has grown explosively from 0.3 GWp to a staggering 2GWp (~>200,000 installations) per year. We hope to achieve the same in other countries, where the potential is still huge!”
Solar Monkey: What you need to know
Jan Pieter Versluijs, Tino de Bruijn, and Mels van Hoolwerff founded Solar Monkey in 2015 on the belief that smart software can accelerate the solar energy market rapidly.
Solar Monkey accelerates the solar energy transition with software that allows installers to work much more effectively and helps them save time on designing, quoting, and monitoring solar PV systems.
The Dutch company says the software is based on advanced algorithms, aerial imagery, and 3D models. Clients can double their output by reducing time spent on operational processes, claims the company.
Tino de Bruijn says, “With our software, installers manage what used to take hours in minutes. Our software contributes to our mission of accelerating the transition to solar energy as fast as possible.”
“Every year, more than 250,000 solar panel systems are made possible with our software in the Netherlands,” claims the company.
Solar Monkey is active in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Spain, and soon also in Germany and England.
Investors
Eneco Ventures is the investment arm of Netherlands-based energy innovator Eneco. The company invests in startups and scale-ups that accelerate the energy transition.
Hans Cool, investment director of Eneco Ventures, says, “We are enthusiastic about the innovative software that Solar Monkey has developed and see a lot of synergies with other companies in our portfolio that are active in the energy market with solar panels and heat pumps.”
Helen Ventures invests €50M in the most innovative and transformative European startups in the energy, e-mobility, circular economy, decarbonisation, and digital solutions sectors.
Terhi Vapola, vice president, head & founder of Helen Ventures, says , “We are very happy to invest in Solar Monkey. The company’s past growth speaks for itself. In addition, with rising energy costs and more awareness of climate change, the timing is excellent for accelerated scaling of solar solutions across new markets.”
