Kyle Cherrick
Investing at Electrum & Solar.com
Los Angeles, California
Overview
Work Experience
VP of Business Development, Board Observer
2015 - Current
Joined in April 2016 after Electrum (formerly PickMySolar) fully acquired the company I founded, Solar Merchant. Building the nation's first concierge home electrification marketplace that provides a platform for energy consumers looking to electrify via adding solar, energy storage, heat pumps, EVSE and more for their home or business. Our online, streamlined process allows consumers to receive bids from our network of 250+ qualified installers across the nation and complete their purchase in less than one hour of total time invested with unbiased guidance from our concierge energy advisors. -- Lead new strategic partnerships (utilities, consumer brands, etc) and initiatives (product expansions, electrification, etc) -- Secured utility partnerships with ConEdison, SoCal Edison, LADWP, Orange & Rockland Utilities, AEP Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, JEA, San Diego Community Power and more across Solar / Storage OEMs (REC, LG Electronics), Auto OEMs (Honda/Acura), Real Estate Platforms, etc -- Co-developed and lead platform expansions into energy storage, community solar and home electrification -- Strategic direction for the company -- Board Observer 2016-2020
Electrum is an online marketplace for homeowners to find competitive offers on home solar, battery, and electrification products.
Raised $19,000,000.00 from Renewal Funds.
VP of Business Development
2019
Solar.com is a brand of parent company Electrum, building America's Most Trusted Electrification Marketplace. Joined in April 2016 after Electrum (formerly PickMySolar) fully acquired the company I founded, Solar Merchant. Building the nation's first concierge home electrification marketplace that provides a platform for energy consumers looking to electrify via adding solar, energy storage, heat pumps, EVSE and more for their home or business. Our online, streamlined process allows consumers to receive bids from our network of 250+ qualified installers across the nation and complete their purchase in less than one hour of total time invested with unbiased guidance from our concierge energy advisors. -- Lead new strategic partnerships (utilities, consumer brands, etc) and initiatives (product expansions, electrification, etc) -- Secured partnerships with ConEdison, SoCal Edison, LADWP, Orange & Rockland Utilities, AEP Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, JEA and many more across Solar / Storage OEMs (REC, LG Electronics), Auto OEMs, Real Estate Platforms, etc -- Co-developed and lead our platform expansions into energy storage, community solar and home electrification -- Strategic direction for the company -- Electrum Board Observer 2016-2020
Americas Most Trusted Solar Marketplace.
Founding Investor
2021
Angel Investment Portfolio: - Folsom Labs - 2014 Seed - SaaS for solar system design, acquired by Aurora Solar in 2021. - UtilityAPI - 2015 Seed, 2022 $10M Series A - SaaS for utility data sharing - Solar Merchant - 2015 Founding CEO - Acquired by Electrum 2016 - Marketplace for C&I Solar projects Syndicate & Fund Portfolio (2021+): - Aether Diamonds - Diamonds from air - Mast Reforestation, rebranded from Droneseed after several successful acquisitions. - Mootral - reducing methane from cows by 40-80% with organic feed supplements - Yotta Energy - Distributed Energy Storage - Geosite - geospatial data marketplace platform and tools - Enzinc - Zinc metal microsponge anodes for batteries - Photon Marine - all electric outboard motors for small boat fleets - Carbon Counts Tech - eco gaming platform raising awareness of climate change and play to plant - Dimensional Energy - Net zero sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) from Direct Air Capture (DAC) - Flexcharging - electric vehicle telematics and managed charging solutions to utilities - DexMat - carbon negative super materials made from Carbon Nanotubes (CNT) - AquaCultured Foods - sushi quality seafood alternatives using microbial fermentation - Applied Bioplastics - plant based plastics alternatives - Enduring Planet - revenue based financing for climate companies - Terraform Industries - manufacturing GHG neutral natural gas using only Solar PV and direct air carbon capture as inputs - Sequestr Carbon - Unlocking institutional capital for carbon markets - Determinant Materials - Novel methods of recycling electronic waste to harvest critical minerals - ESG Brands - beyond cotton & wool with Banex from banana fibers - Oros Labs - material tech creators of Solarcore, advanced thermal management from NASA IP - Metalplant - Carbon negative nickel mining via enhanced rock weathering and phytomining plants
Investor, Advisory Board Member
2015
In Summer 2022, UtilityAPI raised a $$10M Series A led by Aligned Climate Capital with participation from Zoma Capital. — Advisory Board Member (2015-2021) -- 2015 Seed Round Investor -- Advisor to the Leadership team -- Corporate & Fundraising strategy -- Marketing strategy -- Enterprise & Utility Sales strategy
UtilityAPI is a service that automatically collects utility bill and usage data from utility web portals.
Raised $11,749,000.00 from Zoma Capital and Aligned Climate Capital.
Investor
2014 - 2021
*Folsom Labs & their industry leading Solar C&I design platform Helioscope were 100% acquired by Aurora Solar in July 2021, where they continue building the platform and accelerating the future of #SolarIsEatingTheWorld - 2014 Seed Round Investor - Beta Product Feedback & Evangelism - Customer Introductions
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
2015 - 2016
**100% acquired by Pick My Solar Corp. (now doing business as Electrum) on April 1st, 2016** Building an online solar marketplace dedicated to the small commercial sector. Accelerating the development cycle of small commercial projects from 6-9 months down to 6-9 weeks. 2015 US Department of Energy Sunshot Catalyst - Technology Development Grant awardees and Catalyst Grand Prize Winners at Demo Day in Philadelphia, PA
Pick My Solar empowers communities to embrace sustainable tech by reducing complexity and choice, thus improving the quality of life.
Raised $125,000.00 from Cleantech Open.
Western Region Sales Manager, Americas
2013 - 2016
Led all sales and marketing efforts for the Western US for Chint Power Systems, a division of the $6B/year top line Chint Electric Group. Part of a four person sales team that built CPS from a new market entrant in 2012 to number one market share (40% according to GTM leaderboard) in 3-phase string inverters in 2015 in the US. Leading sales of high-quality inverters to commercial and utility-scale solar power markets with performance that will surprise you both technically and corporately. - Drove revenue growth of the Western US Division from $750K/year to $9M/year during a 3-year growth initiative. Our product line of 3-phase string, transformer-less, dual-MPPT, feature-rich inverters are market leading and rapidly being adopted by the largest commercial and utility solar developers in the nation. For an introduction to our 3-phase string product line, please view this video: http://youtu.be/3YMo5l85HBs
Chint Power Systems Americas specializes in manufacturing global solar inverters, string inverters and utility-scale inverters products.
Sales Manager, DG Projects Group
2008 - 2012
Developing DG Solar projects from 500 kW to 5 MW. -- 1MWac single-axis tracker ground mount solar installation at Bernalillo County Prison in Albuquerque, NM constructed in 2012. -- Project due diligence and strategic direction for DG Solar group, Western US. -- Early-stage development of several multi-MW solar installations now under PPA operating now. -- Internal sales training efforts designed to grow DG business exponentially. -- Client relationship management, development, coordination, and execution.
Project Developer
2008 - 2011
**Effective June 1st, 2011 Axio Power was 100% acquired by SunEdison (NYSE: SUNE).** Axio Power was founded in 2007 by a group of renewable energy veterans with a singular vision: to accelerate the adoption of utility-scale solar power. * Led development efforts (Site Control, Grid Interconnection Studies, Permitting, PPA negotiations) for a 200+ MW portfolio of wholesale distributed generation development assets in CA, HI, AZ, NM as well as various secondary markets. * Initiate and build relationships with key utility off-taker procurement and transmission teams in target markets. * Managed re-branding effort to "Axio Power" including, renaming process, full website overhaul, and creation of new marketing materials. Result was a more distinctive brand platform that more clearly represented our business and our leadership in the utility-scale PV project sector. Early member of the Axio Power team, joining the team in 2008 after graduating from the University of Arizona.
Axio Power develops, finances, and constructs large-scale solar projects.
Marketing & Communications
2007 - 2007
First Solar is the leading manufacturer of thin film solar modules enabling renewable, low-cost, emission free energy from solar power. Their CdTe modules lead the industry in performance and cost-reduction and are used in many of the largest solar projects around the world. * Undergraduate intern * Field and respond to all incoming inquiries through the traditional sales channels * Perform due diligence and provide qualified leads to Director of MarCom and VP of Sales
First Solar manufactures thin film photovoltaic modules and provides PV power plants and supporting services.
Raised $2,167,700,000.00 from HSBC Bank, BNP Paribas, MUFG Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Truist, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, U.S. International Development Finance Corp and Mizuho Corporate Bank.