Lunar Energy, a startup focused on home electrification, reportedly just “emerged from stealth.” As Lunar is officially launched, residential solar energy systems company Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) is in the news because Sunrun has provided millions of dollars in funding for Lunar Energy. Moreover, Lunar is led by Kunal Girotra, a former Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) energy division executive. In the wake of these developments, RUN stock accelerated higher in early trading this morning.
In this instance, “emerging from stealth” means revealing Lunar Energy and its mission to the public. This is to include developing software and hardware to create home-energy ecosystems using solar panels and electrical appliances.
It’s not difficult to see why Sunrun, America’s biggest solar installation company, would provide financial backing for Lunar Energy. After all, both companies are early movers in the emerging U.S. clean home-energy field. It’s still impressive, though, that Sunrun raised $300 million in funding for Lunar Energy.
What’s Happening With RUN Stock?
This news item evidently prompted RUN stock traders to go on a buying spree today. By 10:30 a.m. Eastern, Sunrun shares were up 7% and threatening to break above $34.
There’s more to the story than Lunar’s “emergence from stealth,” however. Until February 2020, Girotra served as Tesla Energy’s former senior director of energy operations.
Girotra is Lunar Energy’s founder and chief executive, so we can say that Lunar has a Tesla connection at the executive level. Clearly, anything tied to Tesla, even if it’s an indirect connection, gets traders interested.
So, what should consumers and investors expect from Lunar Energy in the coming months? Girotra offered a teaser on what’s in the pipeline:
“The first offering of our product ecosystem is a next-generation home battery system. It’s the first step towards our mission to electrify all homes and connect communities to form clean, resilient virtual power plants—freeing us from power outages, rising energy costs and harmful emissions.”
That’s an ambitious initial offering from Lunar Energy, but perhaps we should have expected as much. Don’t be surprised, then, if there’s a moonshot — a Lunar landing, if you will — for Sunrun in the near future.
On the date of publication, David Moadel did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
