blocpower Archives - SHOPPE BLACK

Published on March 1, 2023

4 mins read

Black-Owned Climate Tech Startup, BlocPower Raises $150 Million to Decarbonize America’s Buildings

BlocPower is a Black-owned climate tech startup that is making American cities smarter, greener and healthier. BlocPower partners with utilities, government agencies, and building owners to identify unhealthy, energy-wasting buildings to retrofit.

The New York based startup then works with these building owners to develop, install and finance upgrades that reduce fossil fuel consumption—like replacing an oil burning boiler with an electric heat pump. BlocPower earns revenue via installation profits, financing fees, and enterprise contracts.

Today, BlocPower announced a successful fundraising round of $150 million, which includes over $24 million of Series B corporate equity led by VoLo Earth Ventures and $130 million of debt financing led by Goldman Sachs. Other investors who joined the equity round include Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, Credit Suisse, Builders Vision, New York State Ventures, Unreasonable Collective, Kimbal and Christiana Musk, Gaingels, Van Jones, Kapor Capital, My Climate Journey, Tale Venture Partners, and NBA superstar and entrepreneur Russell Westbrook.

To date, BlocPower has raised over $250 million of capital to finance building decarbonization in low-income communities.

The investment round will enable BlocPower to expand its heat pump and building electrification programs across the U.S. The company will further develop its proprietary BlocMaps SaaS analytics platform, grow its financing and administrative capabilities, and broaden its Civilian Climate Corps green workforce initiative, which focuses on training and hiring at-risk individuals in vulnerable communities.

“Since 2014, BlocPower has focused on decarbonizing America’s urban core, developing the green economy’s workforce, and bringing climate justice to underserved and vulnerable communities. We are fighting the climate crisis while improving quality of life for city residents. Series B equity and working capital financing from Goldman Sachs will allow us to accelerate building decarbonization across America. We will help low-to-moderate income communities to access the benefits of President Biden’s once in a lifetime green economy investments,” said Donnel Baird, CEO and founder of BlocPower.

The company has shown significant growth since its 2020 Series A, with 4,000% revenue growth and signing city-scale decarbonization projects in Ithaca, NY and Menlo Park, CA, as well as large-scale projects in Denver, CO; San Jose, CA; Buffalo, NY; Atlanta, GA; and San Luis Obispo, CA. The company has completed hundreds of green energy upgrades across the country, bringing the total number of completed projects to more than 5,000 apartments, homes, houses of worship, and commercial buildings.

BlocPower’s Civilian Climate Corps was awarded a two-year, $108 million contract from New York City Mayor Eric Adams to train 3,000 city residents for clean energy jobs and to help reduce gun violence as part of Mayor Eric Adams’ Precision Employment Initiative. The new contract expanded upon a $37 million contract from 2021, which launched the NYC Civilian Climate Corps. To support that growth, BlocPower opened two new training facilities in Brooklyn and the Bronx.

BlocPower’s work has been recognized by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is honoring the company as an Emerging Leader in Washington, D.C. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring that 40% of climate infrastructure investments impact “Justice 40” communities, which are communities that have a history of excess pollution, disenfranchisement, and underinvestment.

by Tony O. Lawson

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Published on February 23, 2021January 22, 2023

2 mins read

BlocPower, A Black Owned Climate Technology Startup Just Raised $63 Million

BlocPower is a Black owned climate technology startup that transforms antiquated buildings into greener, smarter, and healthier facilities with efficient heating and cooling systems.

Buildings account for around 40% of US energy consumption. Small and medium sized buildings overconsume energy per square foot because they do not usually have the capital and technical expertise to access high efficiency equipment for their buildings.

As a Public Benefit Corporation, BlocPower partners with utilities, community leaders and institutions, and building owners to identify unhealthy, energy-wasting buildings (non-profits, houses of worship, schools, small businesses or multi-family residences) to retrofit.

blocpower

Their machine learning platform determines which retrofits will produce the most energy savings at scale and uses the cloud and IoT to gather data and remotely monitor energy consumption.

By installing modern, efficient, all electric heating and cooling equipment, BlocPower improves indoor air quality and reduces or eliminates fossil fuel use, saving building owners 20 to 70 percent on energy costs.

blocpower

To fund these projects, BlocPower created an innovative financing solution that enables small and medium sized building owners to bring energy efficiency improvements to their properties with no out-of-pocket cost.

Yesterday, the company announced a $63 million Series A round. The round, which was comprised of $55 million in debt, and $8 million in equity, was led by American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact, AccelR8 and The Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, with participation from Kapor Capital, Elemental Excelerator, CityRock Venture Partners, The Schmidt Family Foundation and Salesforce Ventures.

Retrofit project investors are repaid using utility bill savings generated by the solar and energy efficiency retrofits.

So far, BlocPower has completed retrofits in more than 1,000 buildings in New York City and has projects underway in 24 cities, including Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and Oakland.

Tony O. Lawson