#35 Andres Anijalg 🇪🇪 (Roofit.solar) on competing with Tesla, creating market category for solar roofs, fundraising €6.4M and importance of not giving up in Climate Tech

Andres Anijalg is the co-founder and COO of Roofit.Solar, producer of solar roofs that look like a regular roof. The Estonia-based company recently raised a 6.4mEUR series A to fund the transformation in roof building from a cost to an investment.

In this episode, we discuss the revolutionary product of Roofit.solar and its various applications. We dig deeper into the aspects of running a hardware-intensive clean energy business as well as selling a high-cost product that the consumers are not aware of. Finally, we talk about the ClimateTech industry trends and promise for a climate-neutral future.

The topics covered in this episode with Timestamps

[01:00] - THE PROBLEM ROOFIT.SOLAR IS SOLVING

• Debunking myths about solar energy
• Inventing and designing solar panels that look like a regular roof
• The challenge of getting enough power for your home + to charge your Tesla
• Opportunity to earn money from selling excess power to the grid
• Achieving year-round energy neutrality for your house

[09:50] - FUNDRAISING IN CLEAN ENERGY BUSINESS

• Finding financing for creating a production line
• Investors starting to overcome hardware stigma due to the cleantech impact
• The opportunity in the European solar market

[13:30] - MARKETING AND SALES

• Selling power instead of selling roofs and striving for the roof as a service
• Best sales channels for a high-cost product
• Competing with Tesla Solar roofs

[21:00] DEFINING A NEW PRODUCT CATEGORY IN MARKET

• Customer value proposition - how fast it pays off?
• Rising prices in the energy market benefit solar startups
• Creating a new category in the market
• Challenges of selling a product that nobody is aware of
• Rise of home batteries
• The use case for connecting the car to the grid

[29:50] - ADVICE TO OTHER FOUNDERS

• The climate tech community is becoming more and more active
• Advice to other Climate Tech startups - hold on till your moment comes

[33:10] - ON CLIMATE TECH FUTURE IN BALTICS

• Will Baltics become energy neutral in the nearest future? Yes.
• Closing remarks

To reach out to Andres use:

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andres-anijalg/

Email: [email protected] 

Find out more on https://www.pursuitofscrappiness.co/ 

Support for this episode comes from Nexpay > https://paynexpay.com/

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