Reliance Industries to Acquire Majority Stake in Solar Digital Platform SenseHawk

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has signed definitive agreements to acquire a majority stake in California based SenseHawk for a total transaction value of USD 32 million, including funding for future growth, commercial rollout of products and R&D.

Founded in 2018, SenseHawk is an early-stage California-based developer of software-based management tools for the solar energy generation industry. SenseHawk helps accelerate solar projects from planning to production by helping companies streamline processes and use automation. SenseHawk has helped over 140 customers in 15 countries adopt new technology for their over 600 sites and assets totalling more than 100 GW.

SenseHawk, along with RIL’s other investments in new energy, will be synergistic and create unique solutions with higher value to customers.

Speaking about the acquisition, Mukesh D. Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries Limited, said, “We welcome SenseHawk and its dynamic team to our family. RIL is committed to revolutionize the green energy sector and has a vision to enable 100 GW of solar energy by 2030. In collaboration with SenseHawk, we will drive down costs, enhance productivity and improve on-time performance to deliver the lowest LCoE for solar projects globally and make solar energy the go-to source of power in lockstep with our vision for solar energy. It is a very exciting technology platform and I am confident that, with RIL’s support, SenseHawk will grow multifold.”

Commenting on the partnership, Swarup Mavanoor, CEO and Co-Founder, SenseHawk, said, “We have collaborated with a vision to impact all of the processes in the solar lifecycle. We are delighted with the confidence that RIL has demonstrated in us with this investment. The SenseHawk team foresees strategic value in working with RIL, as one of the largest global infrastructure corporations, and look forward to this next phase in our growth.”

Adding to that, Rahul Sankhe, President and Co-Founder, SenseHawk, said, “I second Swarup’s feelings and believe this partnership will open new use cases, help our nascent markets, and offer higher value to customers across the solar lifecycle. We are on a mission to improve the solar energy ecosystem, acquiring 50% of the market by 2025 and with RIL as our partner, we will accelerate on our execution toward that goal.”

The transaction is subject to certain regulatory and other customary closing conditions and is expected to complete before 2022 end. Covington & Burling LLP and Khaitan & Co. acted as the legal advisors while Deloitte was the accounting and tax advisor to RIL on the transaction.

About Reliance & SenseHawk 

SenseHawk’s solar digital platform offers end-to-end management of solar asset lifecycles. It works on pre-construction evaluation and process optimization, construction management along with operations and maintenance.

Reliance, on the other hand, needs no introduction. It is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated revenue of INR 792,756 crore ($104.6 billion), cash profit of INR 110,778 crore ($14.6 billion), and net profit of INR 67,845 crore ($9.0 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2022. Reliance’s activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, renewables (solar and hydrogen), retail and digital services. Currently ranking 104^th, Reliance is the largest private sector company from India to feature in Fortune’s Global 500 list of “World’s Largest Companies” for 2022. The company stands 53^rd in the Forbes Global 2000 rankings of “World’s Largest Public Companies” for 2022 – top-most among Indian companies.