Aerem Solutions has secured INR 136 crore (USD 15 million) in a Pre-Series B round led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund to scale its technology-led platform and accelerate pan-India adoption of distributed solar across MSMEs and households.
January 21, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey
Aerem Solutions has announced that the company has raised INR 136 crore (USD 15 million) in Pre-series B led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund, the venture capital arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), with continued participation from existing institutional investors, British International Investment (BII), The University of Tokyo Edge Capital Partners (UTEC), Blume Ventures, Avaana Capital, Riverwalk Holdings, and SE Ventures (Schneider Electric venture arm).
The fresh capital will be strategically deployed to strengthen Aerem’s end-to-end capabilities by deepening enablement across EPC and installer partners, further expanding its pan-India footprint. In parallel, the company will focus on accelerating adoption among MSMEs and homeowners by improving access to distributed solar solutions, enhancing affordability, and ensuring high-quality, reliable execution at scale, the company stated.
Commenting on the development, Anand Jain, Founder and CEO of Aerem Solutions, remarked, “We are privileged to welcome SMBC as a strategic partner at a time when distributed solar is becoming central to India’s energy independence. By integrating finance, design, procurement and monitoring into a single digital infrastructure, we are removing the ‘trust deficit’ that has historically fragmented the market. This funding enables us to provide the tools our EPC partners need to execute high-quality projects at a national scale.”
Rajeev Kannan, Head of India Division, Managing Executive Officer, SMBC, said, “SMBC Group is committed to fostering the sustainable growth of the Indian economy through its financial expertise. We believe that Aerem’s integrated solutions across the solar energy ecosystem—including financing, marketplace platforms, and data-driven services—combined with SMBC Group’s financial capabilities, will play a pivotal role in accelerating the adoption of clean solar energy in India,” said
Even with compelling economics, where distributed solar power is 3-4x cheaper than grid electricity and strong policy support, adoption in India continues to lag due to structural barriers. Today, distributed solar contributes only about 20 percent of India’s total solar capacity, a sharp contrast to more mature markets such as the US (~52 percent) and the UK and France (~57 percent), highlighting the significant headroom for growth in the Indian market, Aerem said.
It further added that for MSMEs and homeowners, going solar remains complex and opaque. Fragmented installer capacity, limited access to affordable financing, and weak post-installation performance visibility have created a significant trust deficit across the ecosystem. These gaps continue to result in inconsistent project quality, slower adoption, and sub-optimal asset outcomes for customers, EPCs, and lenders alike, it said.
Aerem addresses the structural challenges in the market through a single, technology-led platform that integrates financing, procurement, design, and lifecycle monitoring for distributed solar projects. By aligning incentives across EPCs, financial institutions, and end customers, Aerem materially reduces execution risk while improving speed, transparency, and long-term asset performance at scale, the company claimed.
To date, Aerem has enabled over 1,200 MW of solar capacity across the country and financed over 2,000 solar projects spanning MSMEs, homeowners, and EPC partners, collectively generating lifetime energy cost savings of about USD 2.5 billion, the company stated.
