Clean energy startup Arcadia raises $100 million to fuel expansion

Arcadia, a startup that provides people avenues to access renewable energy without having to change power companies, has raised $100 million to fuel its expansion.

Driving the news: New investors Tiger Global Management and the Drawdown Fund led the Series D round for the company founded in 2013 that has now raised $180 million overall.

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How it works: A key part of Arcadia’s businesses is providing solar to people who can’t install panels because they live in multi-unit buildings or aren’t homeowners.

• Arcadia connects residential customers with nearby “community” solar projects, a growing form of solar in which, as the Solar Energy Industries Association notes, multiple customers subscribe to power from a project and receive credits on their bills.

• The money is also slated to help its expansion to provide commercial businesses with community solar access.

• Arcadia is taping other business lines too. It recently bought Nanogrid, a software company with services like helping ensure electric vehicles are charged when the grid mix is cleanest.

• “We are getting into more and more energy products, energy choices in the home,” founder and CEO Kiran Bhatraju tells Axios.

What they’re saying: Bhatraju said in an interview that the $100 million round is a “validation of the growth of the market, that it one day could be bigger than rooftop solar.”

• The company bills itself as a way to democratize energy access while lowering power bills and help consumers navigate a confusing energy market.

• Arcadia manages 500 megawatts worth of community solar, and Bhatraju said they’ve had 500% revenue growth since 2019.

Go deeper: New coal-fired power projects dwindle worldwide

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