Evan Williams’ venture firm, Obvious Ventures, has led a $3.5 million investment into solar financing and supply chain software developer Sighten.
Sighten looks like it provides tools for solar installers and project developers to optimize their buying power and improve the efficiency of their installations.
There are already a number of solar companies, including the integrated installation companies, that have picked up manufacturers and downstream vendors.
As the Rocky Mountain Institute reported in mid-2014:
Sunrun, a developer and financier, recently purchased the residential division of REC Solar, a major installer. SunPower moved into selling and financing solar systems, rather than just manufacturing modules. RGS Energy recently announced it will begin providing leasing in-house rather than through outside groups. And SolarCity, the country’s biggest solar developer, financier, and installer, just went so far as to buy a module manufacturer (Silevo).
Sighten’s leadership team comes from Clean Power Finance and is led by co-founder and chief executive Conlan O’Leary. In addition to competition from Clean Power Finance, here’s a list of a host of other vendors also tackling the back-end installation and procurement issues in the solar industry, courtesy of ENF Solar.
As a result of the Obvious investment (which doesn’t seem all that obvious to me), Andrew Beebe, who previously served as the vice president of distributed generation for NextEra Energy and chief commercial officer at Suntech, will take a seat on the Sighten board of directors.