The latest raise for Aurora Solar proves that Lorde isn’t the only one interested in all that the sun has to offer. Bay Area investors have a keen eye on solar power as well.
Aurora announced Monday that it closed a $200 million Series D funding round. The massive raise, led by Coatue and Energize Ventures, comes less than a year following the close of the company’s Series C. Since then, the unicorn’s valuation has nearly doubled to a whopping $4 billion. Now, the company plans to scale both its product offering and the size of its team.
“Software is increasingly becoming a mission-critical part of every solar organization’s technology and operating strategy,” Samuel Adeyemo, the company’s co-founder and CRO, said in a statement.
Aurora’s SaaS platform equips solar professionals with the tools they need to design and build solar installations. With Aurora, solar professionals can determine how many solar panels will fit on a property, forecast how much energy a solar installation will produce and calculate how many batteries will be required for back-up power.
The solar power industry has experienced an average annual growth rate of 42 percent in installed capacity over the past decade, according to the Solar Energy Industry Association. That trend, the organization goes on to say, is expected to continue with a series of record-setting years until 2024.
“This strong industry-level momentum, along with the dramatic shift to a digital-first business environment, further accelerated by the pandemic, has highlighted the need for the solar companies to double down on digital transformation,” a representative for Aurora Solar said in a statement.
Over 7.5 million solar projects have been designed using Aurora’s platform to date, according to the company.
Following the latest raise, the SaaS unicorn is all set to expand. Aurora is currently on the lookout for 48 fresh faces to join its team. The company is now hiring for remote roles spanning its engineering, finance, people and product departments, to name a few.
Additional investors Fifth Wall, ICONIQ, Lux Capital and Emerson Collective participated in the raise.
