Sealed – a New York-based residential energy efficiency company – announced the launching of Sealed Pro and a $30 million funding round. The $30 million funding round was led by Keyframe Capital and Cyrus Capital, CityRock, Fifth Wall, and others joined them.
This funding round is part of a larger pivot for the company, which is transitioning from a B2C to a B2B company, supporting contractors with data, project planning, and financing.
Sealed Pro is a software platform that accelerates home energy improvement and electrification projects. Its launch marks Sealed’s shift from a direct-to-consumer company to a business-to-business company that serves home efficiency and electrification contractors nationwide.
Sealed Pro will initially focus on solving the slow and challenging processes of securing rebates for home energy contractors installing weatherization and electrification projects. Rebate programs are essential for energy-saving and emissions-reducing home improvement projects. However, most of the expenses that energy utilities spend on home efficiency programs every year create additional costs and challenges for contractors, including complicated paperwork, overlapping programs, and payment terms that pressure contractors’ cash flow. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) rebate programs added over $8 billion in funding for home energy rebates, and these challenges are expected to increase.
Sealed applies data, analytics, software, and experience gathered over more than ten years in residential energy efficiency to maximize public investments’ impact on market transformation. And Sealed Pro simplifies projects, planning, and rebate applications. Contractors can use the company’s web interface across mobile, tablet, and desktop to input all of the required data points for its programs, with Sealed organizing and submitting all rebate applications. And Sealed Pro gives contractors and homeowners a guaranteed rebate amount. Then Sealed makes up-front payments to contractors to lock in revenue and profitability from their projects with zero risk.
Sealed Pro launched in California, where the company worked with contractors to offer an easier way to navigate the regional 3C-REN measured savings demand flexibility program. Since October 2023, contractors across Ventura, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara Counties in Southern California have submitted $1 million in rebates through Sealed Pro to streamline the planning and registration of their 3C-REN projects. And using Sealed Pro, contractors can now get an estimate on incentive payments in just three minutes and receive payment from Sealed for projects as quickly as ten days after installation.
In 3C-REN and other programs, Sealed works as a program aggregator, helping contractors minimize paperwork and get paid faster all while tracking project submittals and energy savings performance. And Sealed’s work ensures maximum impact and accountability for public energy efficiency dollars and it has made these programs accessible to a much broader group of contractors and homeowners. For example, several Sealed contractor partners pointed out that without the benefit of Sealed Pro, they would not have participated in the 3C-REN program due to the challenges of data gathering, rebate processing, rebate cash flow, and performance risks.
Operating as an aggregator, Sealed supports contractors by connecting them with interested households, including via partnerships with utilities such as Orange & Rockland Utilities and Central Hudson Utilities in New York State. And Sealed also provides contractors with data and education on energy efficiency and electrification.
Of the contractors who have used Sealed Pro in California, 80% were new entrants to 3C-REN. Like many expected IRA-based savings programs, 3C-REN calculates the rebates based on actual energy reductions. As more measured savings programs from the IRA and utilities get up and running this year, Sealed will review the performance risk of each home energy project, ensuring that taxpayer dollars are spent on real energy savings and minimizing the administrative costs and friction for the states and contractors.
The company expects to continue rolling out Sealed Pro across more states this year.
KEY QUOTES:
“Contractors carry the burden of our industry’s ever-increasing complexity. We see them spending more and more time navigating rules and paperwork which distracts, or even restricts, them from the hands-on work that we all depend on them to do. We believe rebates can be both easy and effective and Sealed Pro is helping to achieve this. More homeowners are accessing available rebates while contractors of all sizes are increasing profits and reclaiming their time. These are true industry wins.”
– Ryan Bevans, Chief Revenue Officer at Sealed
“Tapping into the IRA incentives is a complicated process for homeowners and contractors. Our team is steeped in the nuances of the home energy rebates programs created by the IRA and many utilities. Knowing how difficult it can be to navigate, we combined our experience with home energy data and industry expertise in Sealed Pro. Reorienting our business model around Sealed Pro and supporting contractors is a major shift for Sealed that is a perfect fit for today’s market. Sealed Pro takes advantage of a historic market opportunity while also enhancing our contributions to home energy efficiency and electrification in an efficient, scalable way. Sealed has never been better-positioned to boost efficiency and cut GHG emissions from the residential sector.”
– Lauren Salz, co-founder and CEO Sealed
