Solar energy is one of the cleanest forms of energy and the EU is determined to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels by using giant fusion balls in the sky. In fact, as part of the REPowerEU programme, the European Commission is considering introducing rules that would make it mandatory to install rooftop solar panels on most new public and commercial buildings by 2026.
But not all European countries get enough sunshine. You might think that Spain would be strong in solar power because it’s one of the sunniest countries in Europe—after all, Spain’s peak sunshine hours are comparable to those on the U.S. West Coast. However, Spain still lags behind Germany or the Netherlands in installed domestic solar panels, which may be partly due to the historical “solar tax”, a tax on solar installations, which the country only repealed in 2018 . , some startups are finally taking steps to take advantage of this opportunity.
Barcelona-based SolarMente aims to turn solar installations into the backbone of Spanish homes. CEO and co-founder Wouter Draijer told TechCrunch that he was inspired to start the company when he flew to Barcelona and got a bird’s-eye view of how few solar panels were installed on rooftops in Spain compared to his native Netherlands. . He founded the company together with Victor Gardrinier, a Frenchman who studied at HEC Montreal and Stanford University.
Deleyere said the company started out as a solar panel installer in Spain, but after the pandemic decided it should offer solar management systems. In hindsight, this may have been a smart move, as the panel installation market is already covered by professional companies, and falling panel costs may make DIY efforts more attractive to homeowners. It also has a number of startups to compete with, including Lumio Solar, which won the Most Sustainable Startup Award at the Madrid South Summit 2023, and Tornasol, whose kits can be installed on balconies and phased through BNPL platform SeQura Payment.
“Solar energy is not a product,” Dreyer said, explaining why most Spaniards can’t or simply don’t want to pay for solar panels up front. What he means is that people are more concerned about what the panels can do for them than they are about owning them.
That’s why SolarMente offers subscription-based energy management services that include solar panel installation with no upfront cost. Instead of targeting apartments, the company prefers to sell to individual homes because it’s easier from a regulatory perspective and the opportunity is greater, DeLeage said.
“We start with solar, but most of our customers can come back to us because we analyze their data, we install batteries and electric vehicle chargers, heat pumps, and then we start managing that energy.”
The Y Combinator alum recently added actor Leonardo DiCaprio to his capital list, making it his first investment in Spain.
Solar Arbitrage
Managing solar energy consumption and timing is necessary because Gardrinier explained in the X thread As early as 2023, “there is an arbitrage between the price at which households buy energy from the grid and the price at which households sell energy back to the grid.”
Gardrinier told TechCrunch that arbitrage led him to focus on the company’s energy management, and that he was initially interested in understanding how households with solar panels could trade solar energy with peers on the blockchain.
That interest helped SolarMente win a blockchain-focused hackathon and launch a virtual battery service, but the startup’s next steps don’t involve a full-scale deal. Instead, the startup hopes to empower homeowners to optimize their energy consumption through a super app that helps them decide when to consume or sell the energy generated by their solar panels.
Gardrinier, who is also the person on the team most closely involved in the fundraising, provided some background on SolarMente’s funding to date: “As I think about it, every round of funding exposes your company and your team to more risk. So, , through our Series YC, our first $2 million seed round, and a very basic team, we proved that maybe solar could work in Spain. We raised a much larger round last year , mostly debt; we built a massive debt structure to fund our solar installations. We want to prove that you can offer solar as a subscription service at the price of a gym membership and democratize it.”
DiCaprio’s newly announced investment is part of a larger seed equity round focused on getting SolarMente to the required Series A level. “We’re using this round of funding to really power our home energy super app,” Gardrinier said.
Celebrity endorsements
Although this is DiCaprio’s first investment in Spain, the actor has been investing in technology startups since at least 2011. He is also known for being outspoken about climate change, calling attention to the issue during his acceptance speech at the 2016 Academy Awards.
Not all of the actor’s investments are related to climate and green technology, but sustainability is a theme in many, including AllBirds, Beyond Meat and Styrofoam replacement company Cruz Foam. For SolarMente, it also helped that one of their Summer 2021 YC Partners, water risk management platform Waterplan, had already been in touch with DiCaprio.
Dreyer and Gardnier eventually met with DiCaprio, Gardnier said, “and every time we discussed the business and the vision for the energy transition, [DiCaprio] He would hold up his phone and show us one of the projects he was working on – decentralized storage, etc. “
It probably helps that SolarMente’s approach isn’t completely foreign to the actor. DiCaprio previously invested in Bright, a startup focused on installing solar energy to homes and businesses across Mexico. Like SolarMente, it graduated from Y Combinator and raised $31.5 million in Series C funding in July 2023.
Could Bright and SolarMente collaborate someday? We’d say maybe. But first, SolarMente hopes to expand further in Spain, where its subscription solar service has just launched nationwide, Draijer told TechCrunch.
Considering that Spain is sunny but still underdeveloped in terms of equipment, there is no doubt that SolarMente still has room to grow. While its focus on individual homes makes it a somewhat “premium” product, it could still play a role in easing the stress that volatile energy prices put on Spanish households. As an added bonus, its approach could also play a role in boosting the adoption of electric vehicles, another area where Spain has room for improvement.
