Aerem Solutions, an Indian distributed solar platform, has secured $15 million in a pre-Series B funding round led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund. Aerem Solutions, a full-stack platform for distributed solar in India, has raised $15 million (₹136 crore) in a pre-Series B round led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund, the venture capital arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC).
The round also saw participation from existing investors British International Investment, UTEC, Blume Ventures, Avaana Capital, Riverwalk Holdings, and SE Ventures.
Founded in 2021, Aerem Solutions operates as an end-to-end platform that combines solar financing, a marketplace for equipment, and tools for system design, procurement, and asset monitoring.
“By integrating finance, design, procurement and monitoring into a single digital infrastructure, we are removing the ‘trust deficit’ that has historically fragmented the market. This funding enables us to provide the tools our EPC partners need to execute high-quality projects at national scale,” said Anand Jain, Founder and CEO of Aerem Solutions.
The company is led by Anand Jain, founder and chief executive officer, and Vikesh Agrawal, co-founder and head of NBFC, who bring experience across renewable energy and financial services.
The fresh capital will be used to deepen enablement across EPC and installer partners and to expand its pan-India footprint.
Distributed solar currently accounts for about 20 per cent of India’s total solar capacity, compared with over half in more mature markets such as the US, the UK and France, indicating headroom for growth.
“We believe that Aerem’s integrated solutions across the solar energy ecosystem—including financing, marketplace platforms, and data-driven services—combined with SMBC Group’s financial capabilities, will play a pivotal role in accelerating the adoption of clean solar energy in India,” said Rajeev Kannan, Head of India Division, Managing Executive Officer, SMBC.
For MSMEs and homeowners, the transition to solar often remains complex due to fragmented installer capacity, limited access to affordable credit, and inadequate post-installation performance visibility. These factors have contributed to uneven project quality and slower adoption across the ecosystem.
The startup claims to have enabled over 1,200 MW of solar capacity to date and financed 2,000-plus projects across MSMEs, homeowners and EPC partners. It estimates lifetime energy cost savings of about $2.5 billion from these installations.
Aerem’s ecosystem includes over 3,200 verified installation partners across at least 150 cities, contributing to the avoidance of over 35 million tonnes of lifetime CO₂ emissions.
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