GoodLeap, formerly Loanpal, is a finance technology company that provides financing options for the residential solar energy industry. The company was founded in 2003 as Paramount Equity and was later rebranded to Loanpal. In June 2021, the company rebranded to GoodLeap. As of 2020, the company was responsible for 41% of the solar loan market in the U.S. and is the top solar lender in the country.
The company employs about 1,300 people. It has locations in Roseville,
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
,
Irvine, California
Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...
,
Phoenix
Phoenix most often refers to:
* Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore
* Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States
Phoenix may also refer to:
Mythology
Greek mythological figures
* Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...
Bentonville, Arkansas
Bentonville is the tenth-largest city in Arkansas, United States and the county seat of Benton County. The city is centrally located in the county with Rogers adjacent to the east. The city is the birthplace of and world headquarters locatio ...
.
History
GoodLeap started as Paramount Equity Mortgage, founded in 2003 by Hayes Barnard, Jason Walker and Matt Dawson. The company was incorporated in California to provide residential mortgage loans. Although they launched in California's Sacramento Valley, the company quickly started branching out to other states and is now lending nationwide.
In 2006, the founders launched an insurance company focused on auto and home insurance. After over ten years offering insurance services, the company sold its insurance company to Brown and Brown.
In 2009, the founders saw another opportunity to enter the quickly emerging residential solar market and Paramount Solar was established. After building an efficient residential solar sales and marketing platform, the company was approached in 2013 by
SolarCity
SolarCity Corporation was a publicly traded company headquartered in Fremont, California that sold and installed solar energy generation systems as well as other related products and services to residential, commercial, and industrial customers ...
(now Tesla Energy) and Paramount Solar was sold in a transaction valued at approximately $120 million. In 2011, the company took on an equity investment from
Guthy-Renker
Guthy-Renker ( ) is a California-based direct-response marketing company that sells health and beauty products directly to consumers through infomercials, television ads, direct mail, telemarketing, e-mail marketing, and the Internet. Many of ...
, the nation's largest direct-to-consumer marketing company.
In December 2017, Paramount began originating residential solar loans and later rebranded as Loanpal.
In 2019, Loanpal announced a partnership with PenFed Credit Union. The companies use Loanpal’s technology platform to make clean energy products more accessible to homeowners. Under the partnership, PenFed uses Loanpal’s platform to deploy capital, while Loanpal manages the lending experience, including installer management, origination, funding, and servicing. As of 2019, Loanpal is responsible for 30% of all new residential loans in the U.S. and is the top solar lender in the country.
In 2020, the team launched its online platform for financing additional energy-efficient home improvement products including battery storage, roofing, windows, landscaping and turf, LED lighting, water efficiency, and HVAC systems.
In June 2020, Goldman Sachs securitized $459 million worth of Loanpal loans they had previously purchased and expanded their warehouse facility to $300 million with Loanpal. Goldman Sachs also committed to buying $320 million in loans from Loanpal. By October 2020, the company had funded over $4.5 billion in solar loans and closed a securitization of $434 million worth of Loanpal loans in November 2020.
In January 2021, GoodLeap raised $800 million in a funding round led by
New Enterprise Associates
New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is an American-based venture capital firm. NEA focuses investment stages ranging from seed stage through growth stage across an array of industry sectors. With ~$25 billion in committed capital, NEA is one of the w ...
, West Cap Group,
Brookfield Asset Management
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It focuses on direct contro ...
, and
Riverstone Holdings
Riverstone Holdings is a multinational private equity firm based in New York City focused on leveraged buyout, growth capital, and credit investments in the energy industry and electrical power industry sectors. The firm focuses on oil and gas ...
.
The company received an additional $800 million in funding from MSD Partners, BDT Capital Partners and Davidson Kempner in October 2021. Between January and October 2021 the company had raised a total of over $1 billion in funding.
In June 2021, Loanpal rebranded to GoodLeap and began supporting additional sustainable home-improvement products.
Leadership
Hayes Barnard
Hayes Barnard is an American entrepreneur. He is currently the founder, chairman, and CEO of GoodLeap, a technology-based finance company. Barnard is also the founder, chairman, and CEO of GivePower, a nonprofit that facilitates solar powered pro ...
is currently the Chairman and CEO. Tanguy Serra, the former president of SolarCity, is the company's President, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Investment Officer.
Ownership structure
GoodLeap, formerly Loanpal, is a finance technology company headquartered in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
. The company offers consumers access to a variety of residential lending products including mortgages, solar financing and home improvement loans. The company has loaned more than $13 billion to over 380,000 households upgrading to sustainable power across 50 states. The company is an approved seller-servicer of both government sponsored entities,
Fannie Mae
The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) and, since 1968, a publicly traded company. Founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the N ...
and
Freddie Mac
The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (FHLMC), commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a publicly traded, government-sponsored enterprise (GSE), headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. This allows customers to spread payments out over decades and lowers costs. Bundled loans are written in two steps: first, solar panel installers present GoodLeap as a financing option. Then, once the solar project finance deal is complete, homeowners are given the option to tuck the loan into an overall refinancing of their mortgage. The solar loans are funded through warehouse lines with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Western Alliance Bancorp, and mortgages are sold to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and others. The company also contributes to
GivePower
GivePower is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that develops clean water and energy systems in communities across the world. GivePower has installed 2,650 solar power installations in villages across 17 different countries and in underdeveloped ...
based on the number of loans sold.
Awards and honors
In 2017, the company was chosen as the Best Places to Work by the ''
Sacramento Business Journal
American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...
''. The journal also gave the company an "A+ Employee Choice Award" in 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010.
In 2020, the company was selected as one of Inc.’s Best Workplaces.
In 2022, GoodLeap was named #2 on Fast Company’s list of the Most Innovative Finance Companies, and ranked #30 on Fast Company's list of the Most Innovative Companies in the World.
In 2022, GoodLeap ranked #10 on the Forbes Fintech top 50 list.