SunRun Inc. is a United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

-based provider of residential

Residential area

A residential area is a land use in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas.Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single family housing, multi-family residential, or mobile homes. Zoning for residential use may permit...

 solar electricity, headquartered in San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. The company operates in ten states: Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

, Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

, Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, and Oregon

Oregon

Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...

. SunRun was co-founded in January 2007 by Nat Kreamer, Ed Fenster and Lynn Jurich

Lynn Jurich

Lynn Jurich is the co-founder and president of SunRun, a residential solar financing company headquartered in San Francisco, California...

. Fenster and Jurich met while at Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford Graduate School of Business

The Stanford Graduate School of Business is one of the professional schools of Stanford University, in Stanford, California and is broadly regarded as one of the best business schools in the world.The Stanford GSB offers a general management Master of Business Administration degree, the Sloan...

 and currently serve as the firm's CEO

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 and President respectively. The company uses a Power Purchase Agreement

Power Purchase Agreement

Power Purchase Agreements are contracts between two parties, one who generates electricity for the purpose of sale and one who is looking to purchase electricity . There are various forms of Power Purchase Agreements; these are differentiated by the source of energy harnessed...

 (PPA) business model

Business model

A business model describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value...

 whereby homeowners pay for electricity usage but do not buy solar panels outright, reducing the initial capital outlay required by the homeowner. Along with a solar power purchase agreement, SunRun also offers a solar lease program. SunRun is responsible for installation, maintenance, monitoring and repairs.

Since its founding in September 2007, SunRun has partnered with a number of firms including Verengo Solar Plus, REC Solar

Renewable Energy Corporation

The Renewable Energy Corporation is a solar power company with headquarters in Norway. REC produces silicon materials for photovoltaics applications and multicrystalline wafers, as well as solar cells and modules...

, Sunetric

Sunetric

Sunetric is a Hawaii-based residential, commercial, and non-profit photovoltaic solar power company, and operates on all of the Hawaiian islands. The company was founded in 2004 as Suntech Hawaii by Sean Mullen, who is majority share holder in the company. Alex Tiller is the company's CEO...

, Solmentum, and ASE. SunRun's main competitors are SolarCity

SolarCity

SolarCity is an American provider of solar energy system design, financing, installation and related services and also builds charging stations for electric vehicles....

 and Sungevity

Sungevity

Sungevity is a residential solar company that was founded in 2007 by Danny Kennedy, Andrew Birch and Alec Guettel and has offices in Berkeley and Oakland, California.Sungevity uses an internet based approach to build and design residential solar arrays...

, which both offer lease programs.

Financing

The company raised $12 million in venture capital

Venture capital

Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...

 funding from a group of investors including Foundation Capital

Foundation capital

Foundation Capital is a venture capital firm located in Silicon Valley. The firm was founded in 1995, and manages over $2.4 billion in investment capital. It raised its seventh and largest fund of $750 million in April 2008...

 in June 2008. In 2009, SunRun closed a Series B round of funding for $18 million led by Accel Partners

Accel Partners

Accel Partners is a global venture and growth equity firm funding companies from inception through the growth stage.The firm is based in Palo Alto, California with major offices in Bangalore, Beijing, London, and Shanghai....

 and joined by Foundation Capital. The company also received an additional commitment of $90 million in tax equity from U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp is a diversified financial services holding company, headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank, the fifth largest commercial bank in the United States based on $330 billion in assets. U.S. Bank ranks as the sixth largest bank in the U.S. based on...

 in 2009, following the $105 million in project financing from the bank in 2008. In June 2010, SunRun struck a deal with PG&E for 100 million. Following the deal, the company announced $55 million in fresh capital from Sequoia Capital

Sequoia Capital

Sequoia Capital is a Californian venture capital firm located on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California. The Wall Street Journal has called Sequoia Capital "one of the highest-caliber venture firms", and noted that it is "one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture-capital firms"...

.