Enpal Becomes Solar Unicorn In Germany

• Enpal from Germany has raised €150 million from SoftBank Group's Vision Fund 2
• It closes the company's Series C financing round with €250 million, with €100 million raised earlier this year, including from Peter Rive
• Blackrock is also one of the investors in Enpal that aims to diversify its offerings and also expand beyond Germany

German solar start-up Enpal has become a unicorn with its stock valuation reaching €950 million, equivalent of $1.1 billion, after Masayoshi Son headed SoftBank group committed €150 million ($174 million) in the company. Notably, in business terms a start-up achieves the stature of a unicorn once its value reaches or exceeds $1 billion.

Under its business model powered by an artificial intelligence-based algorithm, Enpal purchases and rents out solar systems to end consumers in the residential segment at a fixed price, using bank loans to finance the systems.

It then collects a monthly fee from its customers for a period of 20 years, post which the latter own the system for a symbolic price of €1. Service and maintenance of the system is taken care of by Enpal.

SoftBank has invested in the company through its SoftBank Vision Fund 2. With this, the German company has closed its Series C funding round having raised €250 million. This comprises €100 million it raised from investors including SolarCity Co-Founder Peter Rive earlier in 2021.

In September 2021, Enpal raised €345 million from a number of investors, including from Blackrock.

Local media reports quoted Enpal CEO Mario Kohle as saying his company has the ambition to expand beyond Germany and its business model to diversify to electric mobility and community-based power distribution.