Aerem, an Indian company that finances solar panels, has secured US $2.5 million in a pre-series A round that was co-founded and financed by Blume Ventures.
Anand Jain, a former investment banker at Lehman Brothers who founded Aerem last year, wants to increase the use of solar energy by offering financing options for solar rooftop installations. Customers can get loans through the company’s online platform from partner banks and internal non-bank financial enterprises of Aerem.
The firm said that it is aiming to reach 20 million MSMEs in India, a market worth $200 billion USD.
Aerem intends to utilize the additional funding to increase the number of clients it has, enhance its platform, and add more staff members to its tech, product, finance, and operations divisions.
With a total installed capacity of 54 gigawatts as of 2022—a 20x increase from 2.6 gigawatts in 2014—India ranks sixth globally in the deployment of solar power. In order to reach 300 gigawatts of solar capacity by 2030, the government set a target of adding 30 gigawatts yearly.
