Warburg Pincus invests $100m in India’s CleanMax
Warburg Pincus has committed $100 million to CleanMax Solar, an Indian rooftop solar panel company backed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Bessemer Venture Partners.
CleanMax will use the new capital to expand its market penetration in India and to enter new markets in the Middle East and Southeast Asia, founder Kuldeep Jain told The Economic Times. The company also plans to add an energy storage vertical. Warburg Pincus will take a significant minority stake in CleanMax.
Jain founded CleanMax in 2011. Bessemer invested INR200 million ($4.5 million) the same year according to AVCJ Research. IFC committed $15 million earlier this year.
The company mainly installs rooftop solar panels for corporate clients, and has handled more than 200 projects with combined capacity of over 100 megawatts. It claimed a 24% market share last year. In addition to its corporate business, CleanMax operates solar energy farms in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with a total capacity of 60 MW. The farms provide solar power to corporate customers in the states on an open access basis.
“CleanMax Solar is a leader in the Indian solar rooftop market, providing customers with cost-efficient and environmentally friendly solutions to meet their energy requirements,” said Saurabh Agarwal, a managing director at Warburg Pincus, in a statement. “We believe that CleanMax is well poised to benefit from the strong growth tailwinds in the sector, and look forward to working with the management team to build a world-class enterprise.”
Warburg Pincus has indicated it plans to invest at least $8 billion in India over the next decade as the country’s entrepreneurs continue to mature. The firm is currently investing out of its latest global fund, which launched in May 2015 and closed the same year at the hard cap of $12 billion.
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