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When Edoardo Dellepiane and Raffaele Sertorio founded Niko Energy in 2023 , they learn ample chance in Mexico ’s developing solar marketplace . Despite the fact that many part of the country are bathe in sunlight , it has strikingly few solar installations .
After more than a year ofhelping solar installerssell , plan , and finance control board for residential and small commercial building owners , they spot another chance : building Mexico ’s first virtual world power plant .
Demand for power is surging in Mexico , and multinational bay window have been itching to build more factories in the country , provided they can get access to reliable power . But Mexico ’s grid is stretched fragile , and blackouts were widespread last class during a drouth that hobbled hydropower . A virtual power plant , or VPP , aggregates and controls things like home battery , thermostats , and EV chargers . control how much power those contribute to or draw from the power grid could help facilitate the hurting .
“ We have date the raw government put a lot of attention to this trouble , ” Dellepiane tell TechCrunch . “ We need to be the company that manages the biggest portfolio of decentralized Department of Energy resource in Mexico . ”
The design is to uphold to finance newfangled solar installations , said Andrés Marquina , Niko ’s head of strategy . The number of projectsNikohas serviced has grown 20 % calendar month over calendar month , the party enunciate . To build its VPP , it ’s also take up to sell barrage fire storage to current solar proprietor and is search to take on portfolio from company interested in selling asset . The company is aiming to amass tenner of megawatts of capacitance at the outset , Marquina said .
The renewed focus on Mexico and the VPP initiative make up a shift from the company ’s previous scheme , which visualize copy - glue its solar installation offer across Latin America . “ We hear that Mexico is a huge untapped opportunity , so [ we are ] focalize on one country and doing it well before we move on to other part , ” Sertorio said .
Previously , Niko deal mostly to householder and humble business , which the founders said were underserved by other company . The startup plans to continue pursuing those customers , but more recently it has also begin to romance larger company .
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Similar to what it extend smaller customers , Niko will finance and facilitate the installation of solar venire for a great business . The contract is essentially a fee - for - servicing , which in this case is electrical energy . It can be cancel at any sentence , Dellepiane said , at which point Niko uninstalls the solar panels . But establish that Niko expects caller to make unnecessary on their energy bills , the startup does n’t think that will encounter often . “ It give them peace treaty of judgment , ” Dellepiane say .
To facilitate more installations , and to educate the VPP platform , Niko has raised $ 8 million in fairness , the company exclusively told TechCrunch . The round was led by QED Investors with involution from 468 Capital and Picus Capital . The fellowship also raised $ 15 million in debt .
