Coperniq raises $4M seed round to bring SaaS to solar installers
How do you know when a market has reached maturity?
Often you can just look at the usual metrics: revenue, market cap, number of customers, margins, etc. But there’s a relatively new metric that doesn’t get a lot of attention: Is there a system backed by Y Combinator? SaaS a startup for a market?
If this is the case, then the solar installer market is officially mature.
For years, solar installers have tinkered with project management workflows. For small businesses, this often looked like a multitude of spreadsheets. For larger ones, this meant hacking something from Salesforce or Oracle to meet the unique needs of a solar installation. Together, they worked: the sector is still booming, as evidenced by the number of jobs for solar installers. expected to grow 22% this year.
But even if they work, these systems are not ideal.
Copernicus‘s argument is that its SaaS will help solar installers manage their projects better than existing solutions while giving businesses an eye on long-term recurring revenue. The startup was part of Y Combinator’s Winter 2023 batch, completing part of the accelerator’s push to invest in more climate tech startups. Since graduating, the company is on track to grow its annual recurring revenue fivefold this year, co-founder and CEO Abdullah Al-Zandani told TechCrunch+.
“We are in a healthy situation,” he said.
Several elements inspired Al-Zandani to launch Coperniq with Max Kazakov. Most recently, Al-Zandani worked for a solar company where he helped manage sales and operations, and it was there that he realized there was a need to find a better solution.
