CleanMax Solar, a leading rooftop solar developer, has raised ₹2.75 billion (~ $39 million) in investment from the United Kingdom (UK) Climate Investments LLP (UKCI), which is a joint venture between the Green Investment Group and the U.K. Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

The funds will help support CleanMax Solar’s business expansion and development of a nationwide network of solar photovoltaic (PV) farms for corporates.

UKCI’s investment will support CleanMax Solar as it expands its renewable energy portfolio – facilitating renewable energy buying for corporates through the construction of a network of private solar farms across India.

Kuldeep Jain, the founder and managing director of CleanMax Solar said, “Corporates are quickly adopting renewables sourcing at scale to achieve the twin benefits of profit improvement and carbon footprint reduction. This investment, along with the know-how of Macquarie will enable CleanMax to continue being the market leader in B2B solar sector. We are excited with our aim to enhance our portfolio from 500 MW to 2000 MW in the next three years.”

Speaking about their interest in CleanMax Solar, Richard Abel, the managing director of UK Climate Investments, said, “CleanMax Solar is helping businesses in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies rethink how they produce and consume electricity. Our partnership represents an exciting opportunity to help take their platform to the next level – underpinning investment in new renewable generation capacity whilst accelerating India’s transition to a low-carbon future.”

UBS Securities India Private Limited was the sole financial advisor to CleanMax on this transaction.

This is the third time that CleanMax Solar has successfully raised equity financing. In November 2017, CleanMax raised $15 million (~₹964.5 million) investment from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group. IFC invested in convertible debentures in of the company. This was the first time IFC acquired an equity stake in a distributed-generation firm.

CleanMax had also raised $100 million (₹6.5 billion) in equity financing from Warburg Pincus, a New York-based private equity firm in 2017.

Recently, its subsidiary CleanMax IPP received ₹1.58 billion ($22.6 million) in a loan from PTC India Financial Services to refinance earlier loan.

CleanMax Solar emerged as the top rooftop solar installer in 2018 followed by Fourth Partner Energy, whereas Tata Power still has the largest cumulative installations in the solar rooftop segment. These findings were revealed in Mercom’s newly released India Solar Market Leaderboard 2019 report that covers market share and shipment rankings across the Indian solar supply chain in 2018.

Get the complete list of market leaders with installation and supply numbers in the full report