Wunder Secures $112M in Financing to Fuel Commercial Solar
Series B Round Led by Cyrus Capital Partners
Boulder, Colo. - April 18, 2018 - Wunder Capital, the nation’s leading solar marketplace lender, has raised $112 million in equity and debt financing to accelerate the growth of the company.
The Colorado-based company, which connects individual and institutional investors with large-scale solar energy projects in need of financing, will use the funds to scale its platform further and strengthen its position as the market leader. The round was led by Cyrus Capital Partners, along with participation from existing investors, including Series A lead Techstars Ventures.
John Rapaport, Partner at Cyrus, Co-founder of Repower Group, Cyrus’ renewable energy and electric vehicle focused affiliate, and former Board Member of Virgin America, will join Wunder’s Board of Directors. John Witchel, co-founder of Prosper and an early pioneer of P2P lending, will join Wunder’s Advisory Board.
“In Wunder, we found the team we believe will build the next billion-dollar energy company. Wunder has developed a robust and unique technology-driven approach that minimizes costs and makes financing solar energy easy for the investor and the borrower. We’re excited to work with their team to make their vision of a solar-powered future a reality.”
-John Rapaport, Principal at Cyrus Capital Partners
This new raise comes on the heels of some extraordinary growth in 2017, during which Wunder grew its solar project pipeline to $1.8B (annualized) and increased project originations 10x. With the stated mission of “accelerating our clean and plentiful energy future,” Wunder has financed more than 185 large-scale solar energy projects, adding approximately 65 MW of solar energy to our nation’s grid. These projects can offset the equivalency of 75M lbs of burned coal - equalling 150M pounds of CO2 emissions - each year that they are in operation.
Wunder is already well known throughout the personal finance world for its online investment platform, which caters to impact-oriented individual investors that want to fight climate change without sacrificing return expectations.
“We’re thrilled to announce Wunder’s new partnership with Cyrus. Their experience will be invaluable in achieving Wunder’s ambitious goal of bringing solar to every business across the U.S., and tailoring offerings to the larger institutional capital markets. In addition, their commitment to Wunder’s solar investment funds substantiates our commercial solar asset-backed investments in an incredibly powerful way. We couldn’t be happier to have found partners that see Wunder’s vision and can help us accelerate it.”
-Says Bryan Birsic, CEO of Wunder Capital
About Wunder
Wunder Capital is a financial technology company that provides financing solutions to commercial-scale solar energy projects across the United States. Based in Boulder Colorado, Wunder allows accredited individuals, trusts, corporations, and financial institutions to invest in large-scale solar energy projects and make a difference without sacrificing return expectations. Wunder was founded in 2013 and won the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2014 Sunshot Challenge, COSEIA’s 2015 Summit Award, and it was the first solar company to complete the prestigious Techstars Technology Accelerator program in 2014. Wunder’s software-based approach is dedicated to unlocking the commercial solar opportunity and “accelerating our clean and plentiful energy future.” Visit WunderCapital.com to learn more.
About Cyrus
Cyrus Capital Partners, L.P. is an SEC registered investment adviser with offices in New York and London. Cyrus invests on a global basis across the entire capital structure of companies, directly structures capital solutions for companies, and leads capital raises. Cyrus is an active investor that is deep value-focused and experienced in legal and process-oriented opportunities. Cyrus was founded by Stephen C. Freidheim in 1999, became independently-owned in 2005, and today manages over $4 billion. Repower Group is a Cyrus affiliate focused on helping to provide capital to the electric vehicle and renewable energy ecosystem.