SolarSquare, a rooftop solar startup, has raised $40 million in a Series B fundraising round headed by Lightspeed and with participation from Lightrock. Existing investors Elevation Capital, Chris Sacca's Lowercarbon, Nithin Kamath's Rainmatter, and Gruhas Proptech also participated in the round.

The funds will be used to expand operations, hire new employees, and establish a stronger brand.

"With this round of finance, our first priority is to grow to 50 cities, up from 20 today. "We will also invest heavily in technology, talent, and branding," Shreya Mishra, CEO of SolarSquare, added.

In addition, the company plans to invest in establishing a cutting-edge asset management technology stack for remote monitoring and diagnosis of household solar installations.

SolarSquare, launched in 2015 by Mishra, Neeraj Jain, and Nikhil Nahar, is a full-service home solar firm that offers solar installations to clients. Since its inception, the company has serviced over 20,000 homes and more than 200 cooperative housing communities throughout India.

"We are happy to be working with Solar Square, which has quickly emerged as India's most trusted household solar brand. The clean energy transition has moved from ESG PowerPoint decks to consumers' homes, and Solar Square is well on its way to making #hargharsolar," stated Rahul Taneja, Partner at Lightspeed.

According to Mukul Arora, Partner at Elevation Capital, "Solar Square's full-stack approach of owning the entire customer experience has already set them apart and simplified the solar adoption process." SolarSquare is well-positioned to provide reliable, inexpensive solar energy to millions of Indian households, thanks to favorable regulations and increased consumer awareness."

Mishra discussed how SolarSquare is generating investor interest, stating that specific segments in the cleantech sector, such as solar, electric vehicles (EVs), and battery manufacturing, are gaining traction with investors because they do not require high R&D costs or patient capital.

Furthermore, with home solar, we have a unique potential to launch a direct-to-consumer (D2C) brand. We are India's leading residential solar brand, therefore we have a proven track record over the last four years," she explained.

Before this round, SolarSquare had raised $19.5 million in three rounds of fundraising. The startup also has notable angel investors, including Vidit Atrey and Sanjeev Barnwal of Meesho, Amit Agrawal, Saurabh Garg, and Akhil Gupta of NoBroker, Ashish Goyal of UrbanLadder, Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm, Nipun Sahni of Apollo Global, and Harsh Shah of GoFynd.