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Total corporate funding (including venture capital funding, public market and debt financing) in the first nine months (9M) of 2018 came to $6.7 billion, slightly lower than the $7.1 billion raised during the same period in 2017. There were 103 deals in 9M 2018 compared to 143 deals in 9M 2017.

“Decline in solar demand around the globe has had a strong effect on corporate financing activity in solar especially with most solar company stocks in the negative territory at the end of the third quarter. M&A activity on the other hand has remained robust especially project acquisitions,” said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group.

Global VC funding (venture capital, private equity, and corporate venture capital) for the solar sector in 9M 2018 totaled $889 million, a 10 percent decrease compared to the $985 million raised in 9M 2017.

Debt financing activity in the first nine months of 2018 declined by almost 21 percent to $4 billion in 40 deals compared to 9M 2017 when $5.1 billion was raised in 51 deals.

Announced large-scale project funding in 9M 2018 crossed $11 billion for the development of 137 projects. For the third quarter of 2018 alone, announced large-scale project funding came in at more than $3 billion in 39 deals.

There were 166 large-scale project acquisitions in 9M 2018 aggregating over 23.6 GW, compared to 161 project acquisitions totaling 14.6 GW during 9M 2017.

Project developers were the most active acquirers in Q3 2018, purchasing 22 projects totaling 8.5 GW, followed by investment firms with 21 projects totaling 2.86 GW.

There were 244 companies and investors covered in this report. It is 71 pages in length and contains 75 charts, graphs, and tables.

Mercom Capital Group’s Quarterly Solar Funding and M&A Reports are comprehensive high-quality reports delivering superior insight, market trends and analysis. These reports help bring clarity to professionals in the current financial landscape of the solar industry.

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Quarterly market and deal activity displayed in easy-to-digest charts, graphs and tables, alongside data-driven analysis.

The report covers all types of deals and financing activity, including:

• Venture capital funding deals, including top investors, QoQ trends, and a breakdown of charts and graphs by technology, sector, stage and country;
• Large-scale project funding deals, including top investors, QoQ trends and breakdown charts and graphs by technology and country;
• Public market financing, including equity financing, private placements and rights issues;
• Debt and other funding deals, as well as QoQ trends;
• Third-party residential/commercial project funds;
• Large-scale project acquisitions and active project acquirers;
• Large-scale project announcements in various levels of development throughout the world;
• Mergers and acquisitions (M&A), including QoQ trends, a breakdown of charts and graphs by technology and sector, as well as project M&A activity;
• New cleantech and solar funds;
• New large-scale project announcements;
• Large-scale project costs per MW.

This report also contains comprehensive lists of all announced Q3:

• VC funding, debt financing, public equity financing, and project funding deals;
• VC and project funding investors;
• M&A transactions;
• Project acquisitions by amounts and megawatts;
• M&A, and project M&A transactions;
• Large-scale project announcements.

Mercom’s comprehensive report covers deals of all sizes across the globe. Have questions about the report? Email us here.