NEW YORK — Dandelion Energy announced it has completed its Series A funding of $16 million, bringing the company’s total funding to $23 million. The round was co-led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Comcast Ventures, with participation from Lennar Corp., as well as prior investors NEA, Collaborative Fund, Ground Up, Zhenfund, and others.
Dandelion Energy’s mission is to modernize home heating and cooling by enabling the widespread adoption of geothermal energy. The Dandelion Energy team began working on this mission while at Google parent company Alphabet’s X lab before launching as an independent company in New York City in May 2017. Dandelion Energy expects to use this round of funding to accelerate growth, invest in research and development, and expand its operations across New York — opening new warehouses and growing its team.
In conjunction with the financing, Shaun Maguire, partner at GV, and Sam Landman, managing director at Comcast Ventures, will join Dandelion’s board.
“In a short amount of time, Dandelion has already proven to be an effective and affordable alternative for home heating and cooling, leveraging best-in-class geothermal technology,” Maguire said. “Driven by an exceptional leadership team, including CEO Kathy Hannun, Dandelion Energy is poised to have a meaningful impact on adoption of geothermal energy solutions among homeowners.”
“The home heating and cooling industry has been constrained by lack of innovation and high-costs,” Landman said. “The team at Dandelion, and their modern approach to implementing geothermal technology, is transforming the industry and giving consumers a convenient, safe, and cost-effective way to heat and cool their homes while reducing carbon emissions.”
“We’re incredibly excited to invest in Dandelion Energy,” said Eric Feder, managing general partner for Lennar Ventures. “The possibility of incorporating geothermal heating and cooling systems in our new homes is something we’ve explored for years, but the math never made sense. Dandelion Energy is finally making geothermal affordable, and we look forward to the possibility of including it in the homes Lennar builds.”
Today, millions of homeowners in the U.S. heat their homes with fossil fuels such as natural gas, heating oil, and propane. In the Northeast alone, over 7 million homes have either heating oil- or propane-based home heating systems. Heating fuels are primarily responsible for 11 percent of all carbon emissions related to the heating of homes and businesses in the U.S..
By continuing to invest in heat pump and drilling technology, coupled with operational efficiency, Dandelion Energy has been able to address the biggest factor that has limited the growth of geothermal in U.S. — cost. “In partnership with world-class investors including GV, Comcast Ventures, and Lennar Corp., as well as with the continued support of our existing investors, we’re eager to continue to advance our mission of enabling the widespread adoption of geothermal,” Hannun said.
Publication date: 2/12/2019
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