PwC Legal advises climate-tech startup ZOLAR on EUR 100m Series C financing round led by Energy Impact Partners and GIC
Berlin, 20th May 2022.
A team from PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal AG Rechtsanwaltsgesellschaft (PwC Legal) provided comprehensive legal advice to ZOLAR GmbH on its current Series C financing round of EUR 100 million. The financing round was led by US investor Energy Impact Partners (EIP) and GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund. Existing investors including Inven Capital, Heartcore Capital, Statkraft Ventures and Pirate Impact Fund also participated in this equity financing.
ZOLAR GmbH intends to use the funds raised to roll out new digital energy products. The Berlin based startup was founded in 2016 by Alex Melzer and Gregor Loukidis. ZOLAR is a digital platform for individual solar solutions tailored to the needs of modern homeowners for green energy. With a completely digital shopping experience, the climate start-up offers easy and digital access to photovoltaics and enables even more people to use renewable energy in their own homes and thus make an important contribution to climate protection. ZOLAR employs more than 380 people across Germany and pursues the vision of building a solar system on every roof in the world – for a green world for everyone.
Alex Melzer, CEO and Founder of ZOLAR, said: “Our goal is to supply ten million households in Europe with either a solar system or renewable energy by 2030. The climate crisis, energy security issues and the rising cost of fossil fuels mean we must move very quickly. By offering a fully digital experience and making it as easy as possible to get started and use solar energy, we help people go green, become energy independent and save costs. There are 16 million roofs on single and two-family homes in Germany. More than 14 million of them are still without solar systems. Putting solar panels on these houses will drive Germany’s independence from coal, gas and oil.”
Matthias Dill, Managing Partner Europe at Energy Impact Partners, said: “The demand for green energy will steeply accelerate in the world’s efforts to a net-zero future. Climate tech will drive the modern economy accelerating the transition to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. Our investment in zolar is part of our mission to support startups worldwide that are resolutely driving the path to a sustainable future.”
Choo Yong Cheen, Chief Investment Officer of Private Equity at GIC, said: “Our investment into zolar is a testament of GIC’s support of green innovation and the clean energy transition. During the coming decades, climate change will define investments speeding up the carbon transition. Zolar helps homeowners to significantly reduce their carbon emissions, which is vital to the global decarbonisation efforts.”
Advisors to ZOLAR
PwC Legal (Berlin):
Klara Körber (lead), Gerhard Wacker, Moritz Gröning, Stephan Söbbeke, Hauke Jaeschke (all Corporate / M&A), Susanne Zühlke, Dr. Matthias v. Kaler, Dr. Ilya Levin (all Antitrust / Foreign Trade)
Advisors to Energy Impact Partners and GIC
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP (Dusseldorf):
Sven Greulich (lead), Johannes Rüberg, Ilona Schütz (all Corporate / M&A)
Advisors to BayWa Energy Ventures
Norton Rose Fulbright LLP (Munich):
Sebastian Eisenhut (lead), Sebastian Frech (all Corporate / M&A)
Advisors to Inven Capital
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP (Frankfurt):
Christian Tappeiner, Julian Schwanebeck, Mario Kuhn (all Corporate / M&A)
About PwC Legal Business Solutions:
In our global, rapidly changing business world, cooperation, restructuring, transactions, financing and social responsibility are topics that increasingly concern our clients. They need legal certainty for a wide range of complex tasks. That is why we advise them holistically and in close cooperation with PwC’s tax, human resources and finance experts and our international legal network in over 100 countries. Whether a globally active company, a public corporation or a wealthy private individual, every client has a personal contact at our firm who supports them responsibly in all matters of commercial law. In this way, we help our clients to secure their economic success in the long term.
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