Sunsave raises GBP 113M, targets full EMS offer for UK consumers

Equity and debt facility provides Sunsave resources to increase deployment and develop home energy management system (EMS) according to co-founder Ben Graves. The start up offers solar on a subscription basis with customers owning the installation on their property from the offset.

UK start up Sunsave has raised GBP 113 million ($151 million) in a Series A fundraising round, with co-founder Ben Graves telling pv magazine the funds will allow the company to make rooftop solar accessible to more consumers.

The funding round comprises GBP 13 million in equity plus a GBP 100 million debt facility from Crédit Agricole CIB. Equity fundraising was co-led by Norrsken VC and IPGL, with participation from angel investors. Sunsave has now raised a cumulative total of GBP 22 million through three publicly announced equity fundraising rounds.

Sunsave has also been part of the UK government’s Green Home Finance Accelerator project, which awarded the start up with a GBP 2.2 million grant.

“That was really about innovating new green home finance products and piloting and rolling them out.” Graves said. “It was well timed for us.”

Sunsave offers UK consumers a solar subscription service which bundles financing for the installation with a monthly operation and maintenance fee. Under the Sunsave model, consumers own the solar system on their property from the moment of installation as if they had taken a loan from a bank. The PV system is paid off through a financing agreement offered by Sunsave, which has been authorized as lender by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

“Financing in the UK is perhaps more regulated than anywhere in Europe,” said Graves “One of the first things we had to do in order to launch this kind of product was to become directly authorized as a lender by the FCA. It’s extremely unusual in the UK for an installer to also be a regulated lender. There are very few other people offering their own financing alongside their installed home energy products.”

UK installers offering finance at point of sale typically partner with FCA registered institutions such as retail banks, but this can have serious implications for the lender, according to Graves. Under this kind of arrangement, the lender takes liability for the delivery and quality of products, meaning a finance provider is exposed to risk if there is deceptive selling or issues with the installation.

Graves argued Sunsave’s model means the start up can mitigate lender risk by taking control of the installation. The company reports it has seen 32% month-on-month growth since January 2024.

“The core of what we’re trying to do is bring together finance and installation under one roof where we can basically control the risks that quality of installation presents to point-of-sale finance. If we are the ones that install and manage the customer journey, we can ensure we manage those risks really carefully and we can offer much lower cost products than the rest of the market, because if a bank is offering financing to an installer at point of sale, they have to price in all of the risk,” he said.

Sunsave has ambitions beyond rooftop solar, too. Graves told pv magazine the start up plans to offer UK consumers a full home energy management solution in the future as the electrification of home heating and transport gathers pace, and is open to working with others.