Aerem Secures ₹100 Crore in Series A Funding Led by Japan’s UTEC​

​Clean energy startup Aerem based out of Mumbai has secured ₹100 crore (approximately $11.7 million) in Series A funding led by Japan’s University of Tokyo Edge Capital (UTEC). Participating in this round were also British International Investment (BII), SE Ventures, Riverwalk Holdings and existing investors Blume Ventures and Avaana Capital. 

Strategic Allocation of Funds

The money will be used to extend Aerem’s operations to various areas in India with special focus on eastern and southern parts of the country. The company will also build out its solar financing and marketplace solutions, bolster its end-to-end platform, and extend its lending portfolio into other types of lending products such as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and homeowners. ​

Addressing Solar Adoption Challenges

Aerem points out what it feels are several shortcomings in the Indian solar market, such as being able to have reliable installers, offer competitive pricing, ensure quality, and wean off financing. The company also faces the problem of ‘land mafia’ in India, as highlighted by Founder and CEO Anand Jain: 

“Getting a solar installation is complex for an Indian MSME or a homeowner.” A massive trust deficit in a fragmented ecosystem is something that exists across finding the right installer, the right price, the right quality, right financing, among others.” To address these gaps, Aerem has comprehensive solutions which wrap around their customers’ entire solar adoption journey and simplifies the process for their customers. 

Company Overview

Anand Jain and Vikesh Agarwal founded Aerem in 2021, and from the beginning, the company has been focused on asset financing for rooftop solar projects. Since then the company has expanded their services to include a B2B marketplace, and a digital platform for solar financing as well as a network of over 2,000 installation partners. 

Aerem has marked over 800 MW of solar capacity over 65 cities in India to date and more than 800 projects financed. The solar installations by the company will help save ₹14,000 crore in energy costs for MSMEs during their life time. ​

Market Position and Competition

Aerem competes in the same landscape and operates in the market place alongside other solar service providers including Solarium, Zunroof, Loom Solar, SolarSquare, Cleantech, Mysun, Oorjan, and Freyr Energy. With integrated approach of financing, purchasing high quality equipment and robust installer network, the company can be considered a major player in India’s rooftop solar market. 

Future Outlook

The recent funding will help Aerem accelerate its growth and play a very significant role in meeting India’s renewable energy goals. This matches the company’s effort to simplify the process of solar adoption and to solve what’s already a problem in the market.​

Conclusion

​The India renewable energy sector’s strong growth trajectory and UTEC’s strategy for investing in startups globally is why UTEC took part in Aerem’s recent Series A funding. At the same time, it emboldens Aerem to have a pivotal role in India’s ambitious renewable energy targets and the 2030 goal of 500GW non fossil fuel capacity. 

The money is destined to catapult its digital platform across India, diversify its financing options and expand its operations across India. This matches the company’s mission to simplify solar adoption and solve current market problems. Aerem will focus on building a more trustful and reliable platform across the fragmented solar ecosystem via stronger end-to end platform and expanding its lending portfolio.​

This investment further reaffirms India’s renewable energy sector, which has attracted a large amount of investor interest over the past few years. Specifically, in FY 2023–24 the sector contributed 18.48 GW of capacity and attracted $19.98 billion in foreign direct investment from April 2020 through September 2024. But even with these goals, the sector needs an additional estimated $68 billion every year to meet the 2030 targets – a very large funding gap.

Aerem’s way of doing things is in line with the national strategy to add renewable energy generation and encourage renewables usage. This puts the company in a position to offer solar financing solutions that are localized to deal with the unique problems faced by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and homeowners in adopting solar energy. 

In all, Aerem’s strategic initiatives, coupled with the large funding, will help it make a substantial contribution to renewable energy in India. With the continued development of the sector, Aerem’s dedication to innovation and its ongoing support towards customer centric solutions, matches the nation’s aspiration towards sustainable energy objectives to create a more resilient and diversified energy future.