Hyderabad, 23 September 2015: In line with Prime Minister Modi’s vision of plentiful energy in the future driven by solar power, Fourth Partner Energy a leading company focussed on Distributed Solar Power, announced today that it has raised almost USD 2 million in the next round of Series-A funding. Infuse Ventures, India’s top sustainability and clean technology fund, led this round of investment which also saw a commitment from Fourth Partner’s existing investors – The Chennai Angels (TCA). The company also received a significant commitment under the Seed Capital Assistance Facility (SCAF) implemented through the United Nations Environment Program and the Asian Development Bank.
Fourth Partner Energy (4PEL) was founded in 2010 by Vivek Subramanian, Saif Dhorajiwala and Vikas Saluguti. The Entrepreneurs come from a background in Finance and Entrepreneurship. Fourth Partner Energy has a pan-India presence with offices in Hyderabad, Pune, Gurgaon, Chennai, Rajkot and Jaipur. 4PEL has built end-to-end capability including financial structuring, design, turnkey execution, servicing of captive solar assets and is positioned to take a leadership role in this disruptive market segment. The Company is a full-services RESCO (Renewable Energy Services Company). With almost 400 solar installations across India at marquee public and private sector companies, 4PEL offers its industrial and commercial customers the flexibility of choosing a financing model best suited to their needs and allows them to leverage solar energy to reduce their power costs.
The additional round of funding will enable Fourth Partner Energy to extend more financing options to their clients. “We see a lot of capital waiting to enter the Indian market to support the aggressive growth plans of the solar industry” said Mr. Vivek Subramanian of Fourth Partner Energy. “As a fully integrated RESCO with a proven track record led by a strong experienced team, 4PEL is uniquely positioned to partner with international and domestic financiers. The financial viability of rooftop solar projects has been proven. At Fourth Partner Energy, we are creating a sustainable business with a long term vision for the sector. We see ourselves as being a significant player in garnering investments to execute Government’s vision of 40GWp (~USD 40 billion investment) of rooftop solar by 2022.”
“The solar sector in India is at an inflection point today with the coming together of various factors like increasing parity with grid power, regulatory support through norms like net metering and increase in government’s targets. The biggest problem holding the sector back is availability of finance which the Company will focus on. The team at Fourth Partner, with its strong organisation and past experience in Finance, is well-placed to tap the opportunities unfolding in this space. We look forward to working with Fourth Partner Energy in bringing innovations in the solar sector”, said Amber Maheshwari, Vice-President, Infuse Ventures.
“We are happy to participate in the Series-A round as well” said Mr Narayanan from the Chennai Angels.” We believe that Distributed Solar is where the future is. Today, solar energy cost has achieved parity with several electricity boards and it is a matter of time before we go substantially lower. Rooftop solar will explode over the next few years. And we have a committed and aggressive founder management team to boot”.
