Mosaic is a solar fin-tech company based in Oakland, California. Founded in 2010, Mosaic created their initial business model using crowdfunding principals to offer loans for commercial solar development projects. For that reason, GigaOM referred to the company as "the Kickstarter for Solar". After shifting their model in 2014, Mosaic Inc. is now focused on financing residential solar projects by leveraging third party capital partners. Through this model, the company aims to democratize the social and environmental benefits of clean energy. Mosaic is a certified benefit corporation.
Early projects
, Dan Rosen, Arthur Coulston, and Steve Richmond originally started Mosaic to facilitate crowdfunding of loans for solar development projects. In initial tests, Mosaic facilitated about $1.1 million in private investments from 400 people to finance 12 rooftop solar plants in California, New Jersey and Arizona. In Spring 2012, Mosaic financed five solar power plants through their zero-interest investment model. 400 people invested over $350,000 in these projects which created 73 kW of solar energy for local community organizations—saving the organizations more than $600,000 on their utility bills while producing over 2,700 job hours for local workers. In September 2012, Mosaic financed its first solar power plant that also offered a return on investment for investors. 51 people raised over $40,000 to finance this 47 kW project for the Youth Employment Partnership in Oakland, California. With a 6.38% annual return over a 5 year loan period, a $200 investment would yield $272 by the end of the 5 years.
Public launch
On January 7, 2013, Mosaic launched an online platform to let individuals invest as little as in specific solar projects while earning a 4.5% annual return on their money. Mosaic provided capital to developers at a 5.5% interest rate, took a 1% fee, and investors could expect a full return of their investment in nine years. Mosaic sold out its first public projects in less than 24 hours, with over 400 investors putting in $300,000+ and an average investment of $700. On April 8, 2013, Mosaic announced that it had received approval to sell $100 million worth of solar investments to the California public. As part of the announcement, Mosaic released another project on the Ronald McDonald House in San Diego. On March 6, 2014, Mosaic announced that it would begin offering crowdfunded loans to homeowners who would like to install solar.
Current
Mosaic has been financing residential loans for solar systems by leveraging third party capital providers since 2014. Since this shift, Mosaic has continued to grow in the solar financing space, in large part because of this additional raised capital. Mosaic's first major round of capital came in October of 2014 with reinsurer PartnerRe, funding $100 million of Mosaic home solar loans. These funds were directed at expanding its lending system. Over the course of 2016, Mosaic raised $200 million between Germany's DZ Bank and New YorkGreen Bank and a separate $220 million equity financing in Series C funding through private equity firmWarburg Pincus.
Funding
2012
Mosaic raised $3.4 million in Series A funding in 2012 to grow their solar investment marketplace.
