Raptor Maps announced their $5M Series A raise, with investments from notable investors in the space: Blue Bear Capital, Data Point Capital, Buoyant Ventures, Congruent Ventures, Powerhouse Ventures, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, and Y Combinator.
“Our mission is to build software that enables the solar industry to scale,” says Nikhil Vadhavkar, CEO of Raptor Maps.
Raptor Maps provides tools to organize data, perform virtual inspections, and generate reports that seamlessly integrate into the workflows of solar asset owners.
Why does this matter?
- Raptor Maps provides a solution to assist with a 49% industry annual growth rate over the past decade.
- Since 2010, the cost of solar has decreased 85%, resulting in $1.3 trillion in solar investments, as well as an increase in capacity from 25 GW to 663 GW.
- To date, Raptor Maps has improved the project finance and asset management of over 25 GW in 35 countries.
- Raptor Maps’ solution applies has applications to site selection, surveying, build progress monitoring, and investment due diligence.
What’s next?
- As the solar investment tax credit (ITC) has started decreasing, there will be a need to cut costs of manufacturing, commissioning, and maintaining solar farms.
- Partners that work with Raptor Maps stand to benefit from process improvement and cost reductions.
- Raptor Maps is leading digitization of the solar industry. Not only will this accelerate innovation in the sector, but it will lead to decreased costs to develop and finance more solar farms.
Thoughts
Raptor Maps provides software and services to the solar industry that has great impact but is only part of the solution. It is what manufacturers do with the data and how they make improvements that will drive further growth – from decreasing costs, improving manufacturing practices, R&D into new and cleaner materials, etc. Investors should be focused on reducing carbon emissions, in addition to the transition to clean energy.
About The Author
Daniel currently works at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His original assignment was to maintain and update facility safety documentation for all facilities on-site, and perform risk analysis. Over time, his role has expanded to leading continuous improvement efforts through product management.
Concurrently, Daniel volunteers with Techstars, helping organize startup weekends, and with the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, organizing events on the local and national levels of the organization. He also volunteers with One World, and previously with Powerhouse Ventures, to source and screen startups for potential investment.
Daniel holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from UC Davis, and recently completed coursework in energy innovation from Stanford. His passion is at the intersection of sustainability, innovation, and business.