Pearl Certification Completes $4M Financing to Revolutionize Home Certification

Charlottesville, VA, July 16, 2019 — Pearl Certification, a national firm that provides third-party certification of high-performing home features, has completed a final close on its $4 million financing with an additional $1.85M in funding led by Clean Energy Ventures (CEV). With current operations in 20 states, this funding will enable Pearl to become the national standard for home certification in the U.S. and an indispensable tool for contractors, home builders, and real estate agents.

Surveys, purchase decisions and sales prices show that home buyers want and will pay more for “high-performing” homes – homes that are healthy, comfortable, and energy efficient. Research shows that high-performing homes can sell for a premium when they are labeled and marketed with an independent standard.

Pearl fills the gap in the market and helps consumers find and sell these homes with an easy-to-use, contractor-friendly certification system that creates an inventory of the home’s energy efficiency, health, comfort and other “performance” assets using a proprietary 1,200-point scoring methodology. Based on a home’s verified Pearl score, the home can receive a Pearl certification of Asset, Silver, Gold or Platinum.

“We’re delighted to have the confidence and support of this highly reputable and mission-aligned investment fund,” said Pearl CEO Cynthia Adams. “Pearl has made impressive progress on all fronts over the past year and CEV’s investment signals a recognition by the venture community that the company is ready to scale.”

David Miller, Managing Director of Clean Energy Ventures, commented, “we view Pearl’s solution as an integral part of motivating residential energy efficiency improvements, a market with extensive opportunity that has yet to be realized. We believe Pearl can unleash broad efficiency improvements with corresponding greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and become a national standard which homeowners, contractors, and real estate agents will understand.”

“Pearl has had extraordinary success building strong relationships with manufacturers, utilities and other firms that will help us develop new channels to market,” said Pearl President and COO Robin LeBaron. “We look forward to exploring potential partnerships with similar companies in CEV’s network and portfolio.”

Pearl’s financing to date includes other notable investors in addition to CEV, including members of the Clean Energy Venture Group; Second Century Ventures; Dave Pogue, former Global Director of Corporate Responsibility at CBRE; Steve Morgan, Board Director for ACEEE; Laurence Mackler, Founder of Solaire Generation (sold to Sunpower); and Andrew Tobias, best-selling author and former DNC Treasurer.

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Pearl Certification is a national firm that provides third-party certification of high-performing homes: homes with high-performing features like solar, energy efficient HVAC, smart home devices, and much more. Pearl’s certification drives demand for these improvements by capturing their value for resale and appraisal. Pearl’s partners include ENERGY STAR^®, the National Association of REALTORS^®, and the Appraisal Institute. Through its network effect business model, Pearl will transform the residential market by certifying 5% of the US housing stock in five years. Pearl sells its certification through approved contractor and real estate channel partners, helping to market differentiate and grow these high-quality local businesses. For more information, visit www.pearlcertification.com.

Clean Energy Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on investing in companies commercializing disruptive advanced energy technologies and business model innovations that can achieve significant scale by taking advantage of market-driven forces to address global climate disruption. The firms’ principals have been investing in, supporting and mentoring early stage clean energy startups together since 2005, and work with a deep bench of Venture Partners who, together with the Principals, represent more than 300 years of combined clean energy operating and investing experience. Additional information is available at: http://www.cleanenergyventures.com.

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