Challenge Photo voltaic doesn’t make photo voltaic panels, nor does it make use of crews to plop them on roofs, however the startup argues it may well shake up the residential photo voltaic enterprise by steering away from gross sales reps and automating components of the ordering, design and set up course of.
Backed by $23 million in contemporary sequence A funding led by Left Lane Capital, Challenge Photo voltaic says it’s on monitor to put in 30 megawatts of photo voltaic this 12 months, principally in California and Texas, whereas apparently undercutting a few of its rivals on value. The startup goals to prime its 2022 set up determine by an element of 5 in 2023.
However first, some context: Tesla bailed on door knocking ages in the past, solely to see its marketshare droop. Sunrun, in the meantime, has greater than 100 gross sales jobs listed on its website and is the highest residential photo voltaic model by marketshare. So why would reducing out salespeople work for Challenge Photo voltaic, which is at the moment nowhere close to as energetic because the trade chief?
For owners, the promote principally comes down to cost. The startup says it costs $2.20 per watt on common for installations, and as little as $1.63 after federal incentives. That’s about 25% cheaper than the 2021 nationwide common of $2.94 per watt (earlier than tax credit), in accordance with the Photo voltaic Power Industries Affiliation. Whether or not it qualifies as “dramatically decrease,” because the startup characterizes it, is extra a matter of opinion. For people who’re particularly helpful, Challenge Photo voltaic additionally gives cheaper DIY choices.
Challenge Photo voltaic’s income comes from marking up tools costs, for which is will get quantity reductions. The corporate says reducing out salespeople saves it as a lot as a buck per watt, and from there it leans on its in-house software program to trim the time wanted for issues like system design, allowing and coordinating contractors. For every sale, “there are about 40-man hours of labor concerned within the backend course of (not together with the bodily labor of set up which normally takes a crew of 3-4 individuals 8 hours),” CEO Trevor Hiltbrand instructed TechCrunch. He added that the agency’s software program contains “a device that has diminished engineering/CAD time from 3 hours to half-hour.”
Challenge Photo voltaic plans to make use of the sequence A to broaden within the Midwest and South, and to proceed engaged on its software program. Past Left Lane Capital, Challenge Photo voltaic declined to share who chipped in on the funding spherical, calling them “strategics throughout the trade.”
