Daylight has secured $75 million in funding to revolutionize how households interact with the energy grid by integrating cryptocurrency-based incentives. The startup’s vision centers on transforming individual homes into decentralized energy hubs, where homeowners are not merely consumers but active participants in grid stability. This approach blends financial innovation with renewable energy adoption, aiming to modernize an aging power infrastructure through blockchain technology and decentralized finance (DeFi).
The funding round includes $15 million in equity investment, spearheaded by Framework Ventures with participation from notable backers like a16z crypto and Coinbase Ventures. The remaining $60 million comes in the form of a dedicated project financing facility managed by Turtle Hill Capital. This capital injection will support Daylight’s plan to incentivize solar and battery installations while building a decentralized network that monetizes stored home energy through a shared digital infrastructure.
At its core, Daylight seeks to address two major challenges plaguing the residential solar sector. First is the inefficiency of solar sales, where up to 60% of system costs are tied up in marketing and customer acquisition. Second is the growing strain on centralized power grids, which struggle to keep pace with increasing electricity demand due to their dependence on traditional, slow-to-deploy generation infrastructure.
Daylight’s solution combines a simplified financial model with a decentralized energy-sharing platform. Homeowners enrolled in Daylight’s network pay a fixed monthly fee for energy, typically at a rate lower than their local utility. Meanwhile, their excess stored power — generated via rooftop solar panels and batteries — is aggregated to form a virtual power plant. This collective energy resource can be fed into the grid during peak demand periods, when electricity prices are highest, creating additional revenue streams for participants.
What sets Daylight apart is its integration of crypto-based incentives into this model. Participants earn digital rewards for contributing energy to the network, thus aligning their personal financial interests with broader grid health. These rewards are powered through blockchain protocols, ensuring transparency, traceability, and efficiency in how value is distributed throughout the ecosystem.
Daylight’s CEO, Jason Badeaux, emphasized that cryptocurrency’s strength lies in its ability to reduce transaction costs and align incentives among decentralized actors. “Crypto is uniquely good at doing those two things,” he said. “It helps drive down costs and rebuild the energy industry around principles of transparency, ownership, and shared upside.”
Currently, the company is piloting its system in Illinois and Massachusetts. These early tests involve a mix of direct installations and collaborations with local solar providers, proving the model’s scalability and real-world applicability. With the fresh funding, Daylight plans to launch a DeFi-powered financing model in the next quarter, which could connect household energy systems directly with global capital markets. This would enable real-time funding for energy installations, bypassing traditional finance hurdles.
Beyond the consumer-facing benefits, Daylight’s model offers a compelling value proposition to utilities and grid operators. By creating a network of distributed energy resources (DERs), grid operators can access flexible, responsive power sources without the need for costly infrastructure upgrades. This can significantly ease pressure during peak hours, reduce the likelihood of outages, and lower overall operational costs.
As climate concerns mount and the need for sustainable energy solutions grows more urgent, Daylight’s model offers a decentralized alternative to the centralized, carbon-intensive systems of the past. By giving homeowners ownership of their energy production and the tools to monetize it, the company is fostering a new energy economy rooted in autonomy and digital innovation.
In the broader context of the energy transition, Daylight’s approach positions it at the intersection of two powerful trends: the decentralization of energy production and the rise of programmable finance. This convergence has the potential to not only accelerate the adoption of clean energy but also democratize access to energy markets, allowing everyday homeowners to become stakeholders in the grid’s future.
Furthermore, the integration of DeFi into energy financing could unlock new capital streams for residential energy projects, particularly in underserved or low-income communities. Traditional lenders often hesitate to fund small-scale solar installations due to perceived risk or lack of collateral. DeFi protocols, by contrast, offer programmable, collateralized instruments that can be tailored to energy-specific use cases, increasing access to funding and speeding up deployment.
As Daylight expands, questions remain around regulation, grid compatibility, and long-term scalability. However, if successful, its model could serve as a blueprint for other regions and countries looking to digitize and decentralize their energy ecosystems.
In an era where energy reliability, cost efficiency, and carbon reduction are top priorities, Daylight’s crypto-enabled energy network may well be a glimpse into the future — one where financial and environmental incentives are seamlessly aligned through technology.