Vietnam’s Stride secures Series A equity from UOB Venture Management, others

The Vietnam-based solar company Stride revealed that it had obtained series A equity from Touchstone Partners, Clime Capital, and new investor UOB Venture Management.

According to a statement from Stride, the new series A investment will help the company grow and secure green financing from both new and existing lenders.

Stride’s platform lowers entry barriers for residential and small and medium-sized business (SME) customers in Vietnam to adopt rooftop solar and battery energy storage systems by combining customized financing, technology, and quality assurance solutions.

The company is expanding quickly by collaborating with a large network of solar installers who, when paired with its in-house digital platform, provide the best solar installations to SMEs and homeowners.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) is currently updating its Power Development Plan VIII (PDP8) to increase solar power capacity by more than 25GW to 34GW by 2030 in order to meet the country’s electricity needs for economic development.

About 45% of this additional power capacity comes from solar alone.

Therefore, PDP8 will benefit from Stride’s cutting-edge platform in order to support the widespread adoption of solar energy in Vietnam.

“We are delighted to have attracted a further round of equity investment to fuel Stride’s growth,

“This will help Vietnam move toward achieving its climate goals by enabling more households and small businesses to
access cost-efficient green energy,” said Andrew Fairthorne, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Stride.

As portfolio companies meet their growth and development goals, additional equity funding becomes available to speed up their progress, according to Vanshika Khemka, Investment Manager at Clime Capital.

“Stride’s success demonstrates the effectiveness of deploying early-stage risk capital into promising clean energy companies,” she added.

According to Clarissa Loh, Executive Director at UOB Venture Management, Stride is helping Vietnam, one of the areas most susceptible to the effects of climate change, meet its clean energy transition needs, thanks to its special position as a company that assists microbusinesses going solar through rooftop installations.

“This new round of financing will enable Stride to further scale its solution, creating positive social and environmental impact in ASEAN,” she added.