Investing in Solar: kWh Analytics

The solar industry is going through an unprecedented amount of change, and opportunities to leverage its success are bigger than ever. In the last fifteen years, solar energy has expanded from a niche technology to an important asset class. According to a study by Bloomberg New Energy Finance, from 2004 to 2015, over a trillion dollars of capital has been deployed in solar project, at a compounded annual growth rate of 27%.

At Anthemis, our investment strategy has always been to focus on companies that pioneer technology-driven structural changes to the financial services industry. In our view, emerging financial markets need both a shared data language and risk appreciation to become prevalent asset classes.

Until now, these two critical components have been missing in the solar energy market. kWh Analytics was founded to bring new data to the solar industry. From inception, kWh has built a unique industry database and toolset to help investors understand and improve solar investment performance. The company is now launching a solar production insurance product, Powerlock, to protect asset owners and debt providers. kWh is already working with some of the biggest names in the asset management space as well as global insurance carriers.

Despite the huge growth of the solar energy sector, the industry is still a tiny fraction of global electricity production. With the cost of solar energy production declining, and an increasing understanding of the necessity to change our energy production mix, the solar energy market is poised for growth.

Richard Matsui and the kWh team have formidable experience in the solar energy market, having worked in the industry since its infancy. Anthemis is excited to support them by leading their Series A as they continue developing solutions that provide the necessary components to accelerate growth in this expanding asset class. Not only do we believe solar is a great business opportunity, it is also part of an important problem to tackle.