Hyderabad-based distributed solar energy startup Fourth Partner Energy has secured a line of credit worth ₹356.5 crores ($50 million) from the Bank of America, as reported by YourStory. The funds will be used by the startup to grow its operational solar portfolio over the next 18 months. It will also be used to reinforce start startup’s position in the market.
Talking about the solar energy sector in India, Vivek Subramanian, Co-founder, Fourth Partner Energy, said: “India has achieved under 15 per cent of its ambitious rooftop solar target of 40 GW by 2022, and there is a dire need to accelerate capacity installation. For us, this access to capital from Bank of America is important not just to strengthen and expand our businesses at efficient costs, but also because this relationship can open the door to long-term capital solutions for the sector.”
The startup will immediately receive 30% of the credit and will be utilising the entire corpus of $50 million in the next 12 months. The latest investment by Bank of America is part of its Environmental Business Initiative. Since 2007, the bank has deployed more than $140 billion in financing to low-carbon and sustainable business activities across the globe.
Hyderabad-based cleantech startup Fourth Partner Energy was founded by Saif Dorajiwala, Vikas Saluguti, and Vivek Subramanian in 2010. It provides turnkey rooftop solar energy solutions to its customers, to help them reduce energy costs and provide sustainable energy solutions.
Earlier in June 2018, Fourth Partner Energy had raised $70 million in series B round from The Rise Fund.
India’s solar energy sector has received a lot of attention over the years, owing to growing concerns around environmental degradation and the Indian government’s focus on clean energy capacity building. Apart from Fourth Partner Energy, other startups working in the clean energy space in India include Azure Power, ReNew Power and CleanMax Solar, among others.
Here is a list of top 15 solar energy startups in India.