Samara, the Madrid-based solar energy company that accompanies households in their energy transition towards a more efficient and sustainable model, has raised new funding, totalling 4.5 million euros, to continue developing technology and promoting energy self-consumption.
The round is led by Seaya —a leading European and Latin American venture capital fund behind unicorns such as Wallbox, Glovo, and Cabify— and it includes Pelion Green Future —a Munich-based investment fund focused on clean energy and other decarbonization technologies. The company has raised a total of €6.5 million, €4.5 million in this round and €2 million in last June’s pre-seed round, in which the two funds already participated.
A financing round to boost growth in 2023
Samara is led by Iván Cabezuela —former Country Manager of Bulb in Spain and ex-Amazon and Uber— and Manel Pujol —former Country Manager of Uber Eats and Alan in Spain— two entrepreneurs with experience scaling and operating high-growth technology companies.
“We want to help more and more people adopt clean energy in their homes through solar panels, batteries and electric vehicle chargers, as well as become more energy independent and reduce their carbon footprint” points out Iván Cabezuela, co-founder of Samara. “The goal is to continue the exponential growth we are experiencing in these first six months, to expand our geographic scope and to continue developing digital solutions to help our customers optimize their consumption. For us, it is important to establish long-term relationships with users and to be their partner in the energy transition,” he adds.
The company’s value proposition is to make energy transition for households as easy as possible through technology. Samara uses software to create a holistic, customer-centric solution, ranging from the installation of solar panels to batteries and electric vehicle chargers, among others. The solution allows users to preview the installation of solar panels through a 3D design, calculate energy savings and understand their positive environmental impact through the reduction of CO2 emissions. Samara aims to continue building products and developing technology to assist their customers in their energy transition journey.
To serve an increasing number of households and to extend their footprint in Spain, Samara is recruiting talent and executing its expansion strategy, by opening multiple logistic centres. These hubs are key to guaranteeing agile technical visits and installations.
Six months after its launch, Samara has demonstrated its commitment to excellence and innovation. Faced with inherent problems in the sector, such as the lack of qualified professionals, Samara has bet on hiring and training its own technical teams to ensurethe highest quality standards.
“We have witnessed Manel and Ivan’s excellent execution and their ability to lead a company with an attractive value proposition, healthy unit economics, an outstanding team and measurable impact,” says Carlos Fisch, director at Seaya. “We are very pleased to continue to support Samara in its mission to accelerate the adoption of solar energy in homes. The sustainable growth that Samara represents fits perfectly with Seaya’s values, we share a common goal,” he adds.
Seaya and Pelion Green Future, a continued commitment to solar energy
The renewed commitment of Seaya and Pelion Green Future is also a signal of the opportunity in domestic self-consumption. Spain, for instance, is expected to reach one million installations by 2025 and had only 70,000 installations at the beginning of 2022, and globally, 650 million homes will adopt clean technologies by 2030. “We are proud to see Seaya and Pelion Green Future, our two main initial investors, renew their trust in us. Our goal is to get more people to use renewable energy in their homes while saving money and helping to protect the planet. That’s why we are focused on improving every step of the customer journey, from lead generation to after-sales, to make energy transition as simple and affordable as possible,” says Manel Pujol, cofounder of Samara.
One of the reasons for the growth of self-consumption is precisely the price of energy, which has reached record levels in Europe in 2022. The situation has awakened many consumers, who have realised they can save up to 70% off their energy bill and achieve energy independence. This factor, together with increasing sustainability concerns as well as newly approved subsidies and tax incentives, has turned self-consumption into an attractive solution for consumers.
Benedikt von Bary, Vice President of the Pelion Green Future points out that “We are very excited to increase our investment in Samara and to continue helping homeowners to shift towards green energy and to become energy independent. Over the last months, the team around Iván and Manel has demonstrated their ability to quickly build a striving business, and we are convinced that now is the right time to invest in growth across Spain to address the underserved market of residential solar energy.”.