Geothermal Startup, Dandelion, Raises $2 Million Seed Round, Led by Collaborative Fund

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#home–Today, home geothermal startup, Dandelion,
announced it has raised a $2 million seed round to kick-off its sales
and operations. The round was led by Collaborative Fund and includes
ZhenFund and Borealis Ventures.

After two years in X, Alphabet’s “moonshot
factory
”, Dandelion has set up as an independent company (outside of
Alphabet) to be led by Kathy Hannun and James Quazi. While at X, Kathy,
now CEO of Dandelion, led a team that investigated how to make
geothermal systems more affordable and accessible to homeowners. James,
who formerly founded a home improvement company that was sold to
SolarCity, will lead Dandelion’s technology development.

In the U.S., buildings account for 39% of all carbon emissions, and the
majority of these emissions come from heating and cooling. Dandelion’s
solution will cost consumers around half of what geothermal
installations have cost to date and be less expensive than fuel oil or
propane heating.

Home geothermal systems harness thermal energy from below the earth’s
surface to heat and cool homes and produce hot water. The system pumps
heat away from the home into the earth during summer to keep the home
cool, and pumps heat from the earth into the home in winter to keep the
place warm.

Kathy Hannun, CEO of Dandelion, says, “We started this project because
we realized millions of homeowners are using expensive, truck-delivered
fuels because they don’t have access to better options today. We knew if
installing a geothermal heat pump was a simpler and more affordable
process, these homeowners would have access to a better product that’s
also better for the climate.”

“There is a macro shift in the economy towards businesses that can align
the self interest with the broader interest,” says Craig Shapiro,
Founder and Managing Partner at Collaborative
Fund
. “Dandelion’s business model enables homeowners to make the
sustainable choice the most economic choice, which is a powerful combo.”

Dandelion’s low-cost geothermal installations are available for zero
down for qualifying homeowners, enabling many homeowners to begin saving
on monthly heating and cooling expenses immediately by switching to
geothermal. The system will provide homeowners with renewable heating,
cooling, and hot water and include monitoring and a smart thermostat.
Dandelion is now operational in the New York Hudson Valley and Capital
Region.

About Dandelion Energy Inc.

Dandelion is a home geothermal company, started at Alphabet’s X, with a
breakthrough renewable heating and cooling solution. Dandelion offers
high-performance equipment and a proprietary, low-cost installation
process that allows homeowners to save money by switching from
conventional heating fuels to geothermal heating and cooling. To learn
more, visit us at: www.dandelion.co
or follow us on Instagram,
Twitter
and Facebook.

About X

X,
the innovation engine of Alphabet, incubates new breakthroughs in
science or technology that, we hope, could solve huge problems that
affect millions of people. Our inventors, engineers, designers, and
makers apply audacious thinking and radical new technology to huge
problems. We tackle ideas that have the riskiness of research and run at
them with the focus and speed of a startup. Our goal is to develop and
de-risk early-stage technologies and turn them into products that can be
the foundation for large, sustainable businesses. To learn more about
how the moonshot factory works, see this blog
post from Astro Teller, our Captain of Moonshots. To receive regular
updates on X, follow us on Instagram,
Twitter
or Facebook.

About Collaborative Fund

With over $150 million in assets under management, Collaborative Fund is
a leading source of capital and support for entrepreneurs pushing the
world forward. Our portfolio success fuels great organizations including
the Kaiser Family Foundation, Sesame Workshop, California Endowment, and
Oxford University Endowment. For more information, please visit us at: www.collaborativefund.com.

Contacts

For Dandelion Energy Inc.
Katie Ullmann, m: 617-529-8039
Marketing
Director
[email protected]