Meet our Portfolio: Energy Lite
In 2020, Energy Lite joined the Accelerating Asia portfolio and Cohort 3 of our flagship program. During the 100-day flagship program, Energy Lite closed its investment round after working with the Accelerating Asia team on capital raising strategies and execution.
As part of our award-winning accelerator VC, Energy Lite will receive up to S$200k in investment plus resources, access and tools to fast-track growth. Learn more about becoming part of our portfolio.
Energy Lite is a solar virtual project development platform that transforms buildings into virtual power plants. Here we talk with Co-Founders Chieh Tseng Chong and Michael Bernill about their market reach across Singapore and the Philippines and what’s next.
About energy Lite
Tell us about Energy Lite
Energy Lite is a solar virtual project development platform that install zero upfront investment and zero hassle solar energy through its financing partners.
We provide affordable green energy to commercial and industrial buildings by installing solar panels on the rooftop. Our system designs the project virtually and onboards them into its virtual power plant using IoT devices to minimise the soft cost associated in developing and managing solar.
What services does Energy Lite offer?
Most of the customers we work are commercial and industrial buildings. We just signed a big partnership with Amarenco Solar. Some of them are building owners themselves and they are actually more interested in using our solar solution. They want to save money and while at the same time promote green energy for their operations.
The Capital Raise & Accelerating Asia Experience
Can you walk us through your capital raising process that you implemented during the Accelerating Asia program?
Our capital raising process has been successful, all thanks to Accelerating Asia. The team gave all their support by introducing people who are interested or experienced in the renewable energy industry. These warm introductions allowed us to have a head start which propels our cold reach out to angel investors.
Craig gave us the best lesson on doing cold reach out. Be prepared and do the work. And that’s what we did. First, we created a database of possible angel investors interested in the region and in our industry. From there, we managed to connect in LinkedIn or via email. After that we started our outreach, crafting messages that we think will connect to them personally by adding notes that shows we did our research on them.
It’s all hard work. Maybe every two or three response from 100 emails sent but it’s all worth it and we closed our round as a result.
Why did you decide to join Accelerating Asia?
We joined Accelerating Asia because we wanted to bring out the full potential of our company. It started when Craig gave us an introduction about Accelerating Asia and initial lessons on strategy insights into our goals and the expansion of our business. Through these valuable insights, we decided to join the program that best suited our company, in our case Accelerating Asia
Why would you recommend Accelerating Asia?
Accelerating Asia gave us all the practical advice we need to scale our company. From giving us a simple nudge to do the hard work to developing a successful fundraising process, the program never fell short from encouraging us to become a better company. That is why we would recommend Accelerating Asia to anyone.
The Startup Journey & Team
How was the idea for Energy Lite that was generated?
We came across the idea for the company when we were deploying our previous Virtual Power Plant solution to new solar sites in Singapore. Most of them wants to install solar PV and our technology but do not have the cash and technical capability to handle a solar project for their company.
Now, we are delivering solutions for companies across the region who face blocks with deploying solar projects. Today after COVID, many companies want to save money from their electricity bill by availing the cheaper solar for their operations. However, smaller companies are reluctant to move forward because they have to spend excessive upfront development costs and face expensive technical operations risks in developing their own solar projects.
The team
Who is the team behind Energy Lite?
Both of us have prior experience in developing our own companies and we have more than a decade of experience in the renewable energy industry and software and hardware development. Chong is from A*STAR where he developed several technology companies in both the software and hardware sector and I (Michael) am from San Miguel where I worked on several energy infrastructure projects like solar farm and energy storage projects.
As CEO I am responsible for handling the business development and the financing of the company. On the business development side, I handle all the contract negotiations and all the offers to their customers. On the financing side, I work with its financing partners, like private equities and the independent power producers, by developing financial models to sell this portfolio that the company has in the market.
Chieh Tseng Chong is the CTO of Energy Lite. He takes care of the technology developed for the overall cloud platform. His background as an electrical engineer allows him to analyse a particular site whether it is suitable for installing solar panels. His role includes energy forecasting and predictive maintenance for solar panels. Chong also has in-depth knowledge and a solid network in the Singapore market, so he also focuses on the sales and marketing department and client relations.
The Future
What’s the outlook for the next 12-18 months for Energy Lite?
We’re still quite young and have only been operating since November 2019. Nine months in and we’ve already generated significant revenue from our projects. We already have our first portfolio of 20 sites in Singapore and are targeting 100+ more sites in Singapore and in the Philippines by 2021.
Currently, Energy Lite has just closed a $100M partnership for joint developments across ASEAN with Amarenco, one of the leading of solar energy companies in France. Within the next 12-18 months, by using this kind of partnership, the outlook is to expand the startup in Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Energy Lite received investment from our early-stage VC fund and graduated from Cohort 3 of our flagship program. During our last recruitment round Accelerating Asia received 450 applications from over 25 countries and we have with 2000+ startups per year.
If you’re interested in connecting with Energy Lite, investing alongside us, meeting our portfolio companies, or just generally interested in talking to us about startup investing, please reach out and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Disclaimer
In making an investment decision, investors must rely on their own examination of startups and the terms of the investment including the merits and risks involved. Prospective investors should not construe this content as legal, tax, investment, financial or accounting advice.