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- Clean Power Finance, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is a financial services and software company for the residential solar industry. Clean Power Finance operates the CPF Market, an online business-to-business platform that connects institutional investors and lenders with residential solar professionals who need solar finance products to grow their businesses. The company was founded in 2006 by Match.com founder and serial entrepreneur Gary Kremen, and for the first five years sold CPF Tools to solar installers and originators. In early 2011, Nat Kreamer, a co-founder of Sunrun, joined the company as CEO. In April 2011, the company began making residential solar finance products available to qualified channel partners. Finance products allow installers to offer a variety of financing options to consumers who want less expensive solar electricity immediately without the hassle and expense of photovoltaic solar system ownership. Clean Power Finance operates the largest network of solar professionals in the United States. Clean Power Finance has raised more than a billion dollars in residential solar project financing, and currently manages more than half a billion dollars on behalf of fund investors, including Google Inc. ($75MM), Kilowatt Financial ($250MM), an unnamed utility holding company, and Integrys Energy Group subsidiary Integrys Energy Services In 2011, the United States Department of Energy awarded Clean Power Finance a $3MM grant as part of its SunShot Initiative to build a database and software tool to streamline solar permitting processes. In 2012, the DOE awarded Clean Power Finance two more grants. The first, for $500,000, supported development of an online marketplace for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) services on installed residential solar systems. The second, for $1 million, supports online tools for solar companies to connect to sell and install residential solar more efficiently. The company currently operates in nine states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. Clean Power Finance is an active solar industry leader. CEO Nat Kreamer was named a White House Champion of Change in the Veterans in Clean Energy and Climate Security category and was elected in May 2014 to serve as chairman of the board of directors at the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). Micah Myers, SVP of Corporate Development, is on the board of directors at the Solar Electric Power Association (SEPA). The company has played a leading role in helping traditional power companies invest in the residential DG solar market. In 2016, Clean Power Finance merged with Kilowatt Financial to form Spruce Finance Inc. (en)
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