Daylight’s bet is that the grid’s upgrade path runs through financial innovation, not just hardware. Its $75 million war chest funds the code to align homeowner incentives with grid stability using crypto economics.
Summary
- Daylight Energy raised $75 million, including $15 million in equity led by Framework Ventures and a $60 million project financing facility.
- The startup uses crypto incentives to connect home solar and battery systems into a decentralized power network.
- Its DeFi model rewards homeowners for stabilizing the grid and lowers costs by turning residential power storage into a collective virtual plant.
According to a press release dated Oct. 15, Daylight Energy has raised $75 million to expand its decentralized energy network that turns homes into distributed power plants.
Daylight said the round included $15 million in equity led by Framework Ventures, joined by a16z crypto, Coinbase Ventures, and others, alongside a $60 million project financing facility managed by Turtle Hill Capital.
Notably, the funds will support Daylight’s effort to weave DeFi incentives into solar adoption, rewarding homeowners who install battery and solar systems while connecting their stored power to grid markets.
A decentralized fix for an outdated energy economy
Daylight aims to tackle two parallel failures: a broken solar sales model and a desperate need for grid capacity. The company noted that 60% of residential solar costs are consumed by marketing and customer acquisition, a massive inefficiency that stifles adoption and delays homeowner savings for years.
Simultaneously, centralized utilities are struggling to meet rising electricity demand with traditional, slow-to-build power plants. Daylight’s network attacks both issues by creating a unified financial and operational system and generating revenue through a dual-stream model.
First, subscribers pay a predictable monthly fee for their energy, typically lower than their local utility rate. Second, and more critically, the network aggregates the power stored in thousands of home batteries, creating a virtual power plant. This collective resource can be dispatched to the grid during moments of peak demand, when energy prices spike, creating a premium revenue stream that flows back to the network, Daylight said.
This financial loop is what enables the crypto-powered incentive layer. Homeowners are not just saving on their bills; they are actively rewarded for participating in the network’s growth and stability.
“Crypto is uniquely good at doing those two things, and creates opportunities to align incentives, drive down costs, and rebuild this industry on a foundation of transparency, ownership, and shared economic upside,” Daylight Energy CEO Jason Badeaux said.
The company said it’s already testing the model in Illinois and Massachusetts, where it funds installations through a mix of direct origination and partnerships with local solar providers. With the new capital, Daylight plans to introduce DeFi-based financing in the coming quarter, a step that could connect household energy systems with global capital markets in real time.
