After partnering with solar energy companies to provide renewable energy for bars and restaurants in Minas Gerais, Ambev announced that it is investing in the startup Lemon Energia. The investment in the company, founded by Luciano Pereira, Rafael Mezzomo and Rafael Vignoli, is being coordinated by Z-Tech, the corporate venture arm of the brewery Ambev.
“We focus our investments on developing affordable and easy-to-use products and services that help solve the main problems of small and medium-sized businesses. We are very happy to partner with Lemon and offer another solution that, in addition to the environmental benefits, will contribute to the financial health of small entrepreneurs”, said Roberto Guido, CEO of Z-Tech Brasil.
With the investment, the startup, which rents energy generated in remote renewable energy plants to its customers, increased its capital to R$17 million. According to Rafael Vignoli, other companies are investing in the startup. “In addition to AmBev’s investment arm, Canary and Big beets, the company also has angel investors, including the urban mobility company 99, a Nubank employee and Kiran Bhatraju, CEO of Arcádia,” said the executive.
Furthermore, Vignoli told the Canal Solar says the startup is open to receiving distributed generation projects. “We are accepting new clean energy generators, we do not work with dirty energy generators. Interested parties can contact us through our website“, advised the executive
Lemon's expectation is that its customer base will increase and the startup will be able to serve an additional 50 customers by 2023.
How Lemon Energia works
The startup connects photovoltaic or wind power plants to the grid of energy distributors. The energy generated by these plants is transformed into credits, which are discounted from the bills of companies that are Lemon customers. In this business model, the customer rents the panel and this product starts to produce on the customer's behalf, that is, the customer does not rent the energy but rather the system that produces the energy.
“We connect the customer to the plant, with a number of panels that meet the energy production needs of their business. The plant injects the energy into the distributor's network, after which Lemon clears the credits, notifies the plant how much generation the customer will need, and then notifies the customer how much energy was generated on the panels rented by him”, explains Vignoli.
The service and contracting is 100% online and can be carried out from the company website. To start using the service, there is no need to do any type of installation or work. According to the startup, the company's revenue is generated through a monthly charge based on the revenue of partner plants, most of which are solar energy.
“It's simple to hire Lemon, everything digital and no loyalty, no fine for termination. The customer subscribes to Lemon, and with this they will start producing clean energy on one of our farms”, highlights Vignoli.
Today, the company serves approximately 200 establishments spread across Minas Gerais and Brasília. And more than a thousand small businesses are on the waiting list. Its main audience includes companies that pay electricity bills of R$2 to R$4 per month.
