All research on startup and the whole investment memo has been done for personal use of Akim Arhipov.
Soldera’s mission is to accelerate the global adoption of renewable energy by using AI to optimize energy finance.
They are focused on removing the operational inefficiencies that hinder renewable energy producers from fully benefiting from Guarantees of Origin (GOs) and Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs).
They slash administrative work by 95% and boost producer revenues up to 3x. Since their February launch, they've managed 372 GWh of renewable energy, achieving a staggering 56.45% growth last month, and have been growing roughly 50% for past 3 months.
fff.vc got curious about Soldera while exploring another opportunity in the Carbon Credit space. During the validation process, Tim spoke to Siim Teller (Lemonade Stand), who mentioned Soldera and it’s founder as a reference.
After asking for the deck and looking into the deal, we found it interesting. Tim met Stenver (founder) to get familiar with this idea. Since this meeting, we discussed this possibility with several industry players, receiving positive comments.
Since this moment, thanks to the power of our community, we managed to connect Soldera to several useful people/organisation and by doing so, won the possibility to be considered as one of the investors in this round.
Due to high interest, we can not guarantee participation but in case of significant interest and good speed, we would be in a good position! fff and Soldera have a “gentlemen agreement” to communicate openly and keep each other in the latest information loop. Should there be any news fff will make sure to communicate those to its members ASAP.
The renewable energy market, while growing rapidly, faces a number of structural and operational inefficiencies:
- Revenue leakage: A significant portion of renewable energy producers lose up to 60% of potential revenue due to the complexity and opacity of the GO/REC markets. Many small and mid-sized producers struggle to access premium markets where they could sell these certificates at higher prices. (30% of SME are not selling at all)
- Administrative burden: Compliance and reporting for GOs are complex and time-consuming. Producers are required to navigate bureaucratic processes, which consumes valuable resources. Large producers often deprioritize GO sales, while small producers lack the internal capacity to manage this process effectively.
- Market volatility: Prices for GOs and RECs can be volatile, leaving producers vulnerable to suboptimal pricing strategies. Producers who do not have the expertise or tools to time their market participation risk selling at lower prices
Soldera offers an AI-powered platform that automates the management and optimization of GO and REC sales. The solution has several core functionalities that address the key pain points:
- Automation of reporting and compliance management: The platform integrates directly with national GO registries and automates compliance reporting, which reduces the administrative workload by 95%. This allows producers to focus on their core business while ensuring they meet regulatory requirements.
- Smart trading strategies: Soldera’s trading algorithm optimizes the sale of GOs by aggregating producers’ sales to secure better prices in both spot and forward markets. This strategy can increase revenue for producers by up to 3x compared to manual or less sophisticated methods. Key parts of trading strategy are:
- Aggregation(bigger volumes = better deals)
- Frequency(Fresh produce = higher premium) and
- Network (we specialise on it, and have better network. Last tender we had more participants then national french GO auction
- Risk management and transparency: The platform handles KYC checks, secures transactions, and minimizes exposure to counterparty risks. Producers have real-time visibility into their sales and market conditions, empowering them with better decision-making capabilities
Soldera’s product is a comprehensive AI-driven platform that automates the management and optimization of Renewable Energy Certificates and Guarantees of Origin for renewable energy producers. It significantly reduces administrative work, allows better market access, and maximizes revenue potential.
Below is a detailed breakdown of its core features and capabilities:
Deep Integration with registries
AI-Powered automation
Soldera integrates directly with national and international renewable energy registries, such as Grexel, Green Elering, and ESO, allowing seamless registration and tracking of GOs and RECs. This deep integration ensures that producers can automatically comply with local regulations without the need for manual intervention, significantly reducing bureaucratic overhead.
Soldera’s AI is at the core of its functionality, automating both compliance reporting and trading optimization. In addition to simplifying regulatory tasks, Soldera’s AI actively monitors market conditions, predicts price trends, and dynamically adjusts trading strategies. This allows producers to hedge against price volatility by locking in favorable deals and optimizing sale timings.
Aggregated sales for market leverage
Cross-border trading and future capabilities
Soldera’s ability to aggregate GO and REC sales from multiple producers unlocks higher revenue potential. By bundling certificates into larger, more attractive volumes, the platform secures better prices from premium buyers in both spot and forward markets. This strategy is particularly effective in a volatile and supply-constrained market where larger volume sales command premium prices.
Soldera is preparing for cross-border trading, allowing producers to sell GOs in multiple countries where demand, and consequently prices, may be higher. This cross-border capability is especially important as EU regulations evolve and trading between countries becomes more complex. Soldera’s future developments also include handling hourly-based GOs, a new EU directive that will require real-time energy certification.
Real-time monitoring and transparency
Risk Management and Security
Producers can monitor the performance of their GO/REC sales and market trends in real time through Soldera’s dashboard. This transparency provides a significant advantage by giving producers full visibility into their earnings, market conditions, and sales pipeline. The platform’s user-friendly interface allows producers to manage these operations with minimal effort.
The platform incorporates built-in risk management features, including automated KYC checks, which ensure that all parties in a transaction are legitimate. Soldera also mitigates counterparty risks and handles transaction security, protecting producers from market and compliance-related risks. Additionally, Soldera is fully compliant with GDPR and other relevant data protection laws, ensuring that sensitive data is safeguarded.
Self-Service for Producers
Modular Architecture for Expansion
Designed with simplicity in mind, Soldera offers a self-service portal where producers can manage their GOs and RECs, monitor prices, and adjust trading strategies. This feature is particularly appealing to small and mid-sized producers who can now avoid the need for intermediaries, thereby reducing costs and increasing control over their sales. (Note: Live tracking is not implemented just yet)
Soldera’s platform is built on a modular architecture, allowing for the integration of new services such as electricity trading and cross-border automation. This flexibility ensures that the platform can scale to meet the evolving needs of producers across different markets, without requiring a complete overhaul of its core systems .
It is also important to highlight that Renewable Energy Certificates and Guarantees of Origin are highly sensitive to both volume and timing. Soldera’s approach of aggregating certificates from multiple producers into larger, well-timed batches unlocks significant potential by increasing market leverage. Larger volumes are more attractive to premium buyers who are willing to pay higher prices, while smart timing—using AI-driven market analysis—ensures that sales occur when demand is high and prices are optimal.
Illustration of a (simplified) process cycle 👇
TECH STACK
- Built on Spring, Flask-python, Vue3 and Bootstrap.
- Deployed to AWS EC2, S3 and RDS.
- OpenAI API to manage, create and modify documents.
- Auth0 for authentication.
- Helpcruch for support.
- Dokobit for signatures.
- Betterstack for logs monitoring.
- Integrated on Green Elering, Grexel and ESO.
- Google Analytics, Hotjar, Clarity, internal system for tracking
Soldera operates in a multi-billion euro market with significant growth potential
Let’s have look at the break of the markets that Soldera is tapping into:
- European Guarantees of Origin market (2023): Valued at €4 billion, this market is expected to grow to €24 billion by 2030. The market for renewable energy certificates is driven by increasing regulatory requirements and corporate commitments to sustainability.
- Global Renewable Energy Certificate market (2022): Valued at €13 billion, it is projected to grow to €87 billion by 2030. This includes markets in North America and Asia, where renewable energy mandates are also gaining traction.
- Renewable Energy Market Growth: The broader renewable energy market in the EU is currently valued at €200 billion, with significant growth expected as EU member states move towards a target of 43.5% renewable energy production by 2030.
DEMAND DRIVERS
- Corporate sustainability goals: Companies like Google, Microsoft, and Apple have committed to 100% renewable energy usage, leading to increased demand for GOs.
- Regulatory pressures: The EU’s Renewable Energy Directive mandates the use of GOs to prove renewable energy consumption, particularly in new industries like green hydrogen. There a various subsidiaries and tax breaks in this sector. (For example, in Estonia, you can get electric car subsidy if you use renewable energy going forward)
- Green hydrogen: This is a growing market that will require significant GO certification to prove the renewable origins of the hydrogen used in energy production.
BUSINESS MODEL
Soldera’s business model is built on multiple revenue streams:
- Transaction fees: The primary revenue comes from transaction fees on GO and REC sales. The platform charges producers a fee for each sale it facilitates, with higher fees applied to more complex transactions involving forward deals or cross-border trades. (They currently only take transaction fees for our service, and it’s 10-30% depending on the size of your production)
- POTENTIALLY Service fees: Soldera charges service fees for automated compliance reporting, registration, and trading services. These fees are tied to the scale of energy production and the complexity of the producer’s requirements. (for utility-scale producers)
- Aggregation advantages: he aggregation of smaller producers’ certificates into larger batches provides premium pricing leverage for Soldera. This aggregation allows the platform to achieve up to 3x higher returns for its clients compared to individual sales, as aggregated batches attract more significant buyers in the market.
MARKETING
Soldera’s go-to-market strategy is a comprehensive approach aimed at rapid, scalable expansion across Europe. It combines two primary methods—bottom-up and top-down—enabling Soldera to efficiently penetrate both small and large renewable energy markets while maintaining flexibility for various market conditions.
The top-down approach goes from the general to the specific, and the bottom-up approach begins at the specific and moves to the genera
Bottom-Up Playbook
Country entry → Local integration → Pilot testing → Full launch.
This systematic approach ensures the platform adapts to local market conditions, leading to a strong foundation in each new territory.
Experimental Top-Down Strategy
Designed to accelerate expansion 2x faster, the top-down strategy focuses on securing large producers as anchor clients in new countries. By partnering with major producers, such as expanding from Lithuania into Poland, Soldera can bypass pilot phases and achieve quicker market entry. This strategy offers a high-impact, targeted approach for larger markets .
Segmented Producer Targeting
To maximize penetration across diverse market segments, Soldera targets producers based on their scale:
Tail-end market (up to 1MW): Self-service onboarding driven by direct emails and marketing campaigns.
Mid-section market (1-10MW): Self-service or telemarketing onboarding.
Large producers (10MW - 1GW): Assisted field sales with a focus on personalized onboarding.
Utilities: Currently untouched, with a target to secure the first utility client by end of 2025.
Main Marketing Channels
To support this strategy, Soldera leverages data-driven outreach and marketing:
- Direct email and SMS campaigns using Mailshake, targeting data-mined contacts of renewable energy producers. (they have detailed lists of producers, along with their size of production, technology, names and other data. We create highly personalissed email/sms campaigns using LLMs)
- Google, Microsoft, and Meta ads.
This dual approach allows Soldera to capture both small-scale producers and large utilities, ensuring rapid scaling while addressing the needs of various market segments across Europe.
CURRENT PROGRESS
Soldera has shown rapid growth since its launch, achieving significant milestones within a short period:
- Revenue growth: In the first 7 months, the platform has managed 372 GWh of renewable energy, generating a €278K GMV (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). The company has onboarded 178 customers and operates with 1,278 renewable plants .
- Monthly growth: Soldera has maintained an impressive 50% average month-over-month growth in GWh for the past three month.
- Market penetration: Soldera is live in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, controlling 20% of production points in these regions.
KEY KPI’s (NOW vs FUTURE)
Now
Forfast for upcoming round
GMV growth: €240K GMV from 237 GWh managed.
GMV: The company forecasts growing its GMV to €9 million by 2025 .
ARR: ca. 40k as of now.
ARR: Aiming to hit €1 million ARR by 2025.
GWh managed: 237 GWh managed to date, targeting 1,500 GWh by 2025.
Market Penetration: Presence in 3 countries currently, with plans to expand to 10–20 European countries.
Customer Growth: With a strategy to expand into 10-20 European countries, Soldera expects to significantly increase its customer base.
Geographic expansion: Soldera plans to expand from its current markets (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) into 10–20 additional European countries within the next two years. This will allow the company to capture a larger share of the €24 billion European GO market . Big producers and utilities: Soldera is actively developing solutions for large-scale producers (1GW+), with plans to onboard utility companies by the end of 2025. The company’s strategy includes building features that cater specifically to the complex needs of large-scale producers .
FUTURE VISION: VIRTUAL POWER PLANT
Soldera’s long-term vision extends beyond REC and GO trading. The platform aims to evolve into a Virtual Power Plant, aggregating renewable energy production from various producers to optimize energy distribution and pricing globally. This evolution will enable Soldera to not only manage certificates but also directly manage energy flow, further maximizing the value producers can derive from their renewable assets .
CLIENTS
Soldera has already achieved strong traction with over 178 clients and 1,278 renewable energy plants under management. Notable clients include major renewable energy producers like BaltCap Infrastructure Fund, Kaamos Energy, as well as other significant producers like Vestman, Merito, and Sunsa.
The renewable energy sector presents an unparalleled opportunity today due to a convergence of global demand for clean energy, technological advancements, and regulatory pressures. Investments in clean energy technologies set a new record in 2023, reaching $1.3 trillion, reflecting a 19% increase from 2021. However, this is just the beginning—estimates suggest that investment needs to triple to approximately $4.8 trillion annually to meet net-zero carbon emission targets by 2050 .
The shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy is also driven by significant cost reductions in key technologies such as solar and wind power, which are now far more affordable compared to a decade ago. Solar photovoltaic (PV) costs, for example, have dropped by more than 80%, making renewables highly competitive with traditional energy sources. In fact, the cost of producing renewable energy in many regions has already undercut that of fossil fuels .
Beyond environmental imperatives, investing in renewable energy is economically sound. Clean energy investments are proven to generate more jobs and economic recovery opportunities than fossil fuels, as seen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies show that every $1 million invested in renewables creates more jobs compared to an equivalent amount in carbon-heavy industries, offering a dual benefit of addressing climate change while stimulating job creation .
This combination of economic opportunity, job creation, and environmental necessity makes now the ideal moment to invest in renewable energy. The industry is poised for long-term growth, backed by both government initiatives and corporate commitments to sustainability.
READ MORE
Stenver Jerkku - CEO & Founder
Stenver Jerkku is a serial tech entrepreneur with a strong background in energy and climate finance. As the Founder and CEO of Soldera, he enables renewable energy producers to earn additional income through automated guarantee of origin trading. Previously, Stenver was a CEO of Solid World, a carbon credit trading platform, technical leader at eAgronom(exited) and an early engineer at Glia (now a unicorn). His expertise spans artificial intelligence, climate tech, and software development, making him well-equipped to lead innovative solutions in the renewable energy sector.
Al William Tammsaar - CPO & Co-Founder
Al William T ammsaar brings a unique blend of computer science expertise and climate finance knowledge to the team. As co-founder of Solid World, he focuses on building scalable mechanisms for climate financing. Al's background in data science, product management, and deep research into carbon markets positions him well to drive innovation in renewable energy finance. His experience in designing complex systems and protocols for forward carbon markets adds valuable insights to the team's strategic direction.
Arturas Zatulinas - Power Originator
Former Head of B2B at Elektrum, Arturas brings over 5 years of experience in the energy industry. He has managed a €250 million energy portfolio and excels in combining Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with GOs for record-breaking results .
Steve has over 13 years of experience in software development and big data systems. He has been instrumental in developing petabyte-scale systems and optimization services for telcos and energy sectors.
ADVISORS
David Rodriguez - External Advisor (Side Inc)
David is an experienced advisor specializing in scaling startups and implementing financial growth strategies. He brings valuable insight to Soldera’s strategic planning and investor relations.
Taavi Veskimägi - External Advisor
The ex-CEO of Elering, Taavi has deep expertise in energy transmission and is an important advisor for Soldera in navigating energy market regulations and expansion .
Soldera operates in a rapidly evolving space, facing competition from several notable startups and established companies specializing in renewable energy certificates (REC) and Guarantees of Origin (GO) management.
Here’s a breakdown of the key competitors, their funding, and strategic insights from notes:
Full Automation and AI Integration
Aggregation Advantage for Better Market Pricing
Soldera’s platform offers 95% administrative reduction by fully automating the process of compliance reporting, registration, and sales of GOs and RECs through AI. This seamless integration with government registries (such as Grexel and Green Elering) is a significant edge over competitors like Granular Energy and FlexiDAO, which have more manual or CRM-based solutions.
Soldera pools smaller producers’ certificates into larger batches, allowing it to achieve up to 3x better revenue for these producers compared to individual sales. This aggregation method secures better prices from premium buyers, a key differentiator compared to Commerg and Jasmine Energy, which do not leverage this strategy.
Bottom-Up Market Penetration Strategy
Unique Service Combination
While competitors like Granular Energy take a top-down approach focusing on utility companies, Soldera starts with smaller and mid-sized producers, steadily expanding upwards. This enables faster scaling into new countries with lower entry barriers.
Soldera’s platform integrates portfolio management, compliance, and automated trading into one solution. Competitors like FlexiDAO offer only compliance and portfolio management without the trading aspect, while others focus purely on trading platforms.
RISKS
Dependency on GO Market Prices
Soldera’s business model relies heavily on the performance of the GO market. If GO prices stagnate or fall, Soldera’s revenue from transaction fees will be negatively impacted. Although projections show that GO prices are expected to rise, market volatility or unexpected policy changes could pose a risk .
Regulatory Uncertainty
Entering new markets involves navigating local regulations, which can vary significantly. For instance, known limitations exist in Latvia and Finland, where regulatory hurdles are slowing expansion. Soldera’s top-down approach—leveraging large producers’ local knowledge—is a mitigation strategy, but the risk of regulatory delays remains .
Utility Market Penetration
While Soldera has successfully targeted small and mid-sized producers, it has yet to penetrate the utility-scale market. Competitors like Granular Energy are already working with large electricity suppliers such as TotalEnergies, posing a competitive risk if Soldera cannot secure its first utility client by 2025 as planned
Amount: 2m€
Valuation pre money: 13m€ (As per investor indication so far)
Cap Table: ca.62% founders / ca.21% ESOP (10% allocated) / ca.17% Investors
Investment type: Equity
Committed so far: ca. €600k
FFF Members
Total allocation: 500 000€
Minimum ticket: 10 000€ First come - first serve
Fee structure: 7% one off + 7% carried interest per SPV
INDICATE YOUR INTEREST
📞 For all the question, feel free to reach out to Tim Vaino, 56893204 / tim@fff.vc / WhatsApp
Soldera’s proven bottom-up method focuses on entering 10 countries within the next two years, with a pace of launching in a new country every 2-3 months. This process involves:
Steve Perkson - Software Architect
Taavi Veskimägi - External Advisor
The ex-CEO of Elering, Taavi has deep expertise in energy transmission and is an important advisor for Soldera in navigating energy market regulations and expansion .
ADVANTAGES OF SOLDERA