Oct 24, 2024

Seed Funding Announcement: Aether Energy raises $2.5 Million

Zayne

We raised funding to accelerate our expansion of the Aether platform and provide a native solar design tool for Europe.


We are excited to announce our $2.5M seed round led by Noa (formerly A/O Proptech), with participation from Y Combinator, Collab Fund, Amino Capital, and Climate Capital.


What drives us?


Shelby and I started Aether with a simple goal: build cutting-edge tech for rooftop solar to accelerate solar deployment and drastically reduce costs globally.


Addressing Industry Challenges


The rooftop solar industry faces significant challenges, including fraudulent practices and deceptive sales tactics that erode consumer trust. Without transparent software solutions that reduce misleading financial arrangements and curtail high-pressure sales tactics, rooftop solar cannot reach its full potential.


So what are we building?


After speaking with hundreds of installers over the past year, we've identified these key needs in the industry:

  • Providing highly accurate data for estimations and building measurements across multiple regions;

  • Offering transparent and actionable software for homeowners before and after sales;

  • Eliminating the reliance on expensive and time-consuming connector apps and systems for installers;

  • Automating processes at scale to improve efficiency via Agentic AI workflows; and

  • Delivering all these solutions at a reasonable cost under one roof.


To address these needs, we're building a complete vertical tool for rooftop solar installers. This comprehensive platform replaces the fragmented apps currently used in the solar workflow—from pre-sales and design to engineering and home monitoring. It's a solution that factors both the building installer and homeowner into the equation.


Aether: the compound company.


From the very start, it was clear to me that we needed to be more than a point solution.


If you look at the current solar lifecycle workflow, you'll see that point solutions exist for pre-sales, design and engineering, and post-sale operations. For the most part, each individual tool is not only extremely limited but also performs poorly.


It takes a solar installer months to see any value from each platform, and they often have to rely on offshore development teams to get it up and running. Even then, users are forced to rely on multiple disjointed tools to do their job. 


It is a highly inefficient way to run a solar installation company, especially when these companies operate on extremely thin margins.


To make matters worse, emerging smaller solar installers find it hard to innovate on their tech stack. They often don't understand how it's assembled or they lack the necessary know-how.


We have not only the opportunity to consolidate workflows into one platform but also to innovate independently within each part of the lifecycle. With the release of Aether 'beta' we have shown how much innovation we have brought to the solar workflow, such as one-click solar design automation.


Furthermore, 'solar data'—the data generated in pre-sales design and engineering—is highly critical to the entire solar workflow. However, sharing this data across multiple platforms requires extensive custom integration—something beyond what a Zapier integration can handle. As such, by offering a deeply integrated platform, we create a seamless experience for both building installers and building owners.


For Aether to truly solve the software problem of rooftop solar, we had to go all in across the entire solar lifecycle. This needed to be in our DNA from the very first day.


Aether is an ambitious project with many points of failure, but I know that we have the team to pull this off. We're already on track, approaching $1M in ARR just nine months after writing our first lines of code.


Given our ambitious nature, we face heavy competition from incumbent players. We are not afraid of competition; if anything, as builders, it makes things fun. It forces us to push the boundaries of innovation that are desperately needed in this space.


Vote of confidence from Europe’s largest built world VC


noa (formerly A/O) led the round, signaling a vote of confidence in our product and operating model from specialist investors with deep industry expertise.


Jess Clemans, Investor at noa, said: “Aether’s platform revolutionises the solar workflow end-to-end, massively reducing soft costs, saving both the installer and homeowner money. We’re excited to back such a strong team and a product that can have a real impact on solar’s uptake.”


What's next?
  • Our work isn't done—we still need to simplify the solar purchasing experience and make it even more transparent.

  • We are building technology that will allow homeowners to make a rooftop solar purchase with a single click for an electrically valid system. The product you buy is what will be working on your roof at the point of sale.

  • We are working on rolling out our own solar financial product, Aether Financing, in select markets in 2025. Installers can offer this financial product to homeowners, enabling a non-deceptive sales process. It also gives us the chance to extend our technical stack into the post-sales workflow and the lifecycle of the building owner.

  • Solar is a global challenge, and from the beginning, Shelby and I aimed to build software that scales worldwide. We want our technology to work natively across the globe—not just in the US and Europe.


Thank you to our seed angels:


Aether is privileged to have been backed by industry veterans in climate tech and venture capital, including household names such as Gustaf Alstromer (backed companies valued at $12B+), Nick Elledge ($100M exit at seed), Richard Aberman ($400M exit to JP Morgan), JJ Fliegelman (CTO of WayUp, YC visiting group partner), Ethan Bond (CEO of SelectIQ), John Shivdat, among others.


Our new website:

www.aethernrg.com


Join Us:


We believe in a future powered by clean, accessible energy, and we're building the tools to make that future a reality.


If you're a solar installer that aligns with our vision, let's talk.


Aether founders – Shelby and Zayne.

Know more

Give us a try.

Grow with Aether!

Aether makes it easy for residential & commercial solar installers to design, sell and get paid - in one platform.

Company

support@aetherenergy.me

2024 Aether Energy Inc ― All rights reserved.

Know more

Give us a try.

Grow with Aether!

Aether makes it easy for residential & commercial solar installers to design, sell and get paid - in one platform.

Company

support@aetherenergy.me

2024 Aether Energy Inc ― All rights reserved.

Know more

Give us a try.

Grow with Aether!

Aether makes it easy for residential & commercial solar installers to design, sell and get paid - in one platform.

Company

support@aetherenergy.me

2024 Aether Energy Inc ― All rights reserved.