Climate-KIC supported start-up ZOLAR completes €4m financing round

• Sunstone Capital, Statkraft Ventures, Partech Ventures and Tim Schumacher invest in Series A financing round
• First online one-stop shop for customized residential solar systems
• ZOLAR Online Configurator allows homeowners to conveniently choose from a wide range of brands and components

The Berlin-based Climate-KIC supported start-up ZOLAR has completed its Series A financing round led by Sunstone Capital and Statkraft Ventures with the participation of Partech Ventures and internet entrepreneur Tim Schumacher. The financing consortium has invested €4m in the rapidly growing company to support an accelerated roll-out and extension of ZOLAR’s product portfolio.

“We founded ZOLAR on the premise of making the purchase of a solar system for any homeowner as simple and transparent as possible“, says Alex Melzer, co-founder and CEO of ZOLAR. “With the provided capital, we will pursue our vision to power every house with decentralized renewable energy systems making people’s lives energy independent”, adds Gregor Loukidis, co-founder and COO of ZOLAR.

Solar energy as the best alternative for consumers
The residential solar market is currently experiencing significant growth. Due to decreasing prices of solar modules components and battery systems, for homeowners in most countries, it is now cheaper to generate their own electricity than buying it from the grid. With solar energy, homes can lower their electricity bill effectively to zero. ZOLAR serves homeowners with a new and convenient way to configure, choose and buy customized solar and battery systems online.

“For the first time ever, solar is at the stage where it has become the consumer’s best alternative. Not only is decentralized solar power lower cost than buying electricity from your utility, it will also heat your house and fuel your car. ZOLAR is the first full-service online provider for residential solar and the team is committed to taking solar into the mainstream,” explains Jimmy Fussing Nielsen, Managing Partner at Sunstone Capital.

A solar energy configurator
On the company’s website, www.zolar.de house owners can sign-up for ZOLAR’s Online Configurator, which automatically creates a fixed-price offer for an optimal system configuration for their house. The configurator allows the user to customize a favourite system choosing from a wide range of solar module brands such as LG, Solarwatt or Trina and storage systems such as Mercedes-Benz, Varta or LG Chem without needing to have any prior knowledge. ZOLAR then takes care of the installation through its own solar experts and Germany-wide installer network.

“We are impressed by ZOLAR’s strong growth in their first year of operation. Given the favourable conditions for residential solar and considering ZOLAR’s smooth customer journey, we expect that an increasing number of households will choose to buy their solar systems online”, explains Steffen Funck, Investment Manager at Statkraft Ventures.

About ZOLAR
The Climate-KIC start-up ZOLAR is the first online provider that allows homeowners to customize their solar system on the web. Founded by Gregor Loukidis and Alex Melzer in Berlin, Germany in 2016, ZOLAR pursues the vision to power every house with affordable decentralized renewable energy to make people’s lives energy independent. The company not only actively pushes the Energiewende but also wants to lower the CO2 footprint of every house.