Dive Brief:

• Vivint Solar, the second biggest U.S. solar installer/lease financier after SolarCity, filed a $200 million initial public offering (IPO) application. It should draw a lot of attention because Vivint will likely more than triple revenues from 2013’s $5.8 million to over $17 million this year, but investors also might note Vivint’s net 2013 loss of $56.4 million will likely grow to over $150 million in 2014.
• Banks have committed to nine investment funds with Vivint Solar, valued at some $443 million, that will install $1.1 billion in PV systems, and it has three financiers’ letters of intent covering another $250 million and some 111 megawatts more solar.
• Vivint is active in fewer markets than the dozen or more states where competitors SolarCity, Sungevity, and Solar Universe work, but has won 7% of the U.S. market using parent company Vivint Inc.’s door-to-door soliciting methods. Its recent acquisition of Solmetric is expected to grow and streamline the process because salespeople will be able to measure the roof, design the system, and even close.

Dive Insight:

In 2013, 53% of Vivint’s modules were from China’s Trina Solar, 22% from China’s Yingli Green Energy, and 20% from China’s Canadian Solar, three of the top five suppliers to the U.S. market.

Vivint has 26% of Maryland’s market, 17% in Massachusetts, 13% in Hawaii and New Jersey, 10% in New York, and 8% in California.

The IPO filing includes an account of Vivint’s overcoming reliance on Zep Solar after the racking company was acquired by SolarCity in 2013.

Vivint Inc., one of the biggest U.S. home-alarm system/home automation companies, was acquired by Blackstone for $2 billion-plus in 2012.