Planted Solar, a company that provides solar energy project deployment platforms, has secured a $12 million funding round led by Piva Capital, with participation from existing investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Team Builder Ventures.
Planted Solar offers an integrated hardware and software platform that pairs high-density, terrain-following arrays with automated installation. This is said to enable developers to deploy solar projects faster, with lower costs and less risk.
With this funding, the company plans to accelerate the development of its digital and hardware solutions, expand deployment capacity, and strengthen its partnerships globally.
“Solar developers don’t have a decade to solve these problems; the crunch is happening right now. Planted Solar’s platform clears some of the industry’s biggest roadblocks by making it faster and cheaper to get projects in the ground. This is exactly the kind of pragmatic innovation the energy transition needs,” said Mark Gudiksen, Managing Partner at Piva Capital.
According to the company, it is currently deploying projects across the U.S., ranging from community solar installations to behind-the-meter systems for rooftops. Simultaneously, it is expanding in international markets such as Asia-Pacific and Europe, where demand for renewable energy is surging.
According to Mercom’s 1H 2025 Solar Funding and M&A report, VC funding activity decreased 7% year-over-year, with $2.5 billion raised in 32 deals in 1H 2025 compared to $2.7 billion from 29 deals in the first half of 2024. In Q2 2025, global VC funding activity declined 50% YoY, with $1.1 billion raised across 18 deals compared to $2.2 billion in 16 deals in Q2 2024.
In April, RayGen Resources, a developer of utility-scale solar and long-duration energy storage, raised A$127 million (~$76 million) in a Series D funding round. The funding round was led by a technology company, SLB, with A$31 million (~$19 million) follow-on investment along with the execution of a RayGen-SLB Strategic Deployment Agreement, designed to accelerate the technology’s path to the global energy market.
