Aerem Solutions Raises $15 Million in Pre-series B Led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund to Accelerate Distributed Solar Adoption Across India

Aerem Solutions, India’s leading full stack platform for distributed solar, has raised $15 million (INR 136 crore) in Pre-series B led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund, the venture capital arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), the storied banking behemoth from Japan and one of leading banks globally, with continued participation from existing institutional investors, British International Investment (BII), The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC), Blume Ventures, Avaana Capital, Riverwalk Holdings, and SE Ventures (Schneider Electric venture arm)

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Mumbai, Aerem is a full-stack distributed solar platform enabling faster and more reliable solar adoption across India. The company is led by Anand Jain (Founder & CEO) and Vikesh Agrawal (Co-founder & Head of NBFC), who together bring deep experience across renewable energy and financial services. Aerem combines solar financing, a marketplace for solar equipment, and a technology-led platform that supports system design, procurement, financing, and asset monitoring, helping MSMEs, installers, and financial partners deploy high-quality distributed solar solutions at scale. 

The fresh capital will be strategically deployed to strengthen Aerem’s end-to-end capabilities by deepening enablement across EPC and installer partners, further expanding its pan-India footprint. In parallel, the company will focus on accelerating adoption among MSMEs and homeowners by improving access to distributed solar solutions, enhancing affordability, and ensuring high-quality, reliable execution at scale.

Even with compelling economics, where distributed solar power is 3-4x cheaper than grid electricity and strong policy support, adoption in India continues to lag due to structural barriers. Today, distributed solar contributes only ~20% of India’s total solar capacity, a sharp contrast to more mature markets such as the U.S. (~52%) and the U.K. and France (~57%), highlighting the significant headroom for growth in the Indian market.

For MSMEs and homeowners, going solar remains complex and opaque. Fragmented installer capacity, limited access to affordable financing, and weak post-installation performance visibility have created a significant trust deficit across the ecosystem. These gaps continue to result in inconsistent project quality, slower adoption, and sub-optimal asset outcomes for customers, EPCs, and lenders alike.

“SMBC Group is committed to fostering the sustainable growth of the Indian economy through its financial expertise. 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.

Aerem’s Integrated Solutions

Aerem addresses the structural challenges in the market through a single, technology-led platform that integrates financing, procurement, design, and lifecycle monitoring for distributed solar projects. By aligning incentives across EPCs, financial institutions, and end customers, Aerem materially reduces execution risk while improving speed, transparency, and long-term asset performance at scale.

Aerem’s network of trusted installation partners underpins a capital-efficient, scalable model that enables deep local market reach while lowering customer acquisition costs. 

"We are privileged to welcome SMBC as a strategic partner at a time when distributed solar is becoming central to India’s energy independence," said Anand Jain, Founder and CEO of Aerem Solutions. "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."

Aerem has demonstrated strong market momentum and tangible impact in India’s clean energy transition. To date, the company has enabled over 1,200 MW of solar capacity across the country and financed 2,000+ solar projects spanning MSMEs, homeowners, and EPC partners, collectively generating lifetime energy cost savings of $2.5 billion. Its nationwide ecosystem includes 3,200+ verified installation partners operating across 150+ cities, giving Aerem a truly pan-India footprint. Collectively, these efforts have helped avoid approximately 35 million tonnes of lifetime CO₂ emissions, equivalent to planting ~80 million fully grown trees, underscoring Aerem’s measurable environmental and market impact.