Private equity firm Zephyr Peacock has invested up to Rs 50 crore in Mumbai-based Gadhia Solar, sources close to the development told VCCircle. However, details of the investment were not immediately known and the company spokespersons were not available for comment till the time of filing this article.
The solar energy company provides energy solutions by using parabolic concentrated technology and has implemented some of the world’s largest solar thermal systems during the past two decades. HTT GmbH of Germany provides technical support to the firm which has developed various applications based on solar concentrators, including solar cooking apps (steam cooking, thermic oil-based cooking, etc.), solar air-conditioning, large-scale drinking water systems, solar crematorium and waste water evaporation, among others. The company has a dedicated research and development (R&D) team in Germany and owns a manufacturing plant in India.
Zephyr Peacock primarily invests in areas like financial services, education, consumer-related businesses, value-added manufacturing and infrastructure-related services. It funds small-to-medium-sized established businesses and the investment usually varies between $5 million and $20 million.
The PE firm’s earlier investments include Aizant Drug Research Solutions, a provider of drug development solutions in India; Trimax IT Infrastructure and Services Ltd, a company providing end-to-end IT infrastructure solutions to various government agencies and enterprises; Metro Wireless, a network designing and optimisation services firm catering to telecom operators in the country; Miles Software Solutions, which provides software and solutions to the financial services industry, WLC India, a vocational training provider in various fields such as fashion designing, graphic design and media studies, among others.
Private equity investments in India’s renewable energy segment took a giant leap last year with deal volume doubling and deal value increasing more than fivefold. Last year, solar power firm Kiran Energy raised $50 million commitment from Bessemer Venture Partners, New Silk Route and Argonaut Ventures while Wind energy start-up ReNew Wind Power Pvt Ltd raised Rs 1,000 crore ($200 million) from Goldman Sachs in one of the biggest private investment deals in the renewable energy space in India.
