Dutch solar energy company Soly has been declared bankrupt just over a year after securing a €30M funding round. The bankruptcy affects Soly Holding B.V. and Soly NL SSC B.V., with the District Court in Groningen confirming the filings this week. The development marks a sharp reversal for a business that positioned itself as a champion of accessible sustainable energy across multiple countries.
Bankruptcy Filing and Court Decision
According to the founders, the current management of Soly submitted bankruptcy petitions for the holding and Dutch shared services entities to the District Court in Groningen. The court has now formally approved these petitions, bringing the company under the supervision of a court-appointed trustee. This step places employees, partners, and other stakeholders in a period of heightened uncertainty as the bankruptcy process unfolds.
Founders’ Reaction and Search for Alternatives
Founders Patrick, Milan, and Richard van der Meulen expressed deep disappointment with the outcome. They say that in recent days they worked intensively, in their capacity as shareholders, to identify and present alternatives that might have avoided insolvency. Despite those efforts, they state that management and other shareholders chose a different route that ultimately led to the bankruptcy filings.
Possibility of a Restart
While they are no longer operationally involved in day-to-day management, the founders emphasize that they remain engaged in exploring future options. They have publicly indicated a willingness to support a potential partial restart of the business if viable structures can be found. For now, they stress the importance of allowing the court-appointed trustee to conduct the process in a careful and orderly manner.
Recent Funding and Growth Trajectory
The bankruptcy comes just over a year after Soly closed a €30M funding round led by climate-focused investor ArcTern Ventures. That investment was intended to fuel the company’s international expansion and accelerate the rollout of its solar energy solutions. The contrast between the sizeable capital raise and the subsequent insolvency underscores the challenges facing even well-funded energy transition startups in a volatile market environment.
Mission to Make Solar Energy Accessible
Soly was founded in 2013 by brothers Patrick and Milan van der Meulen with a clear mission to make solar energy accessible to as many people as possible. Inspired at a young age by Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” they set out to harness entrepreneurship as a driver for climate-focused impact. Over more than a decade, the company rolled out hundreds of thousands of solar panels and expanded operations to seven countries, building a recognizable brand in the European solar market.
Impact on Employees and Stakeholders
In their public statement, the founders highlight the human and operational consequences of the bankruptcy. They acknowledge that loyal employees, long-standing partners, and other stakeholders are now facing uncertainty about their future. The founders also use the moment to thank current and former staff for their contributions, describing Soly as a remarkable company built over more than twelve years of effort.
Soly’s collapse, coming so soon after a major funding round and following years of international growth, illustrates the pressures facing renewable energy companies even as demand for clean power rises. The bankruptcy proceedings now in motion will determine the fate of its assets, workforce, and client relationships in the Netherlands and beyond. As the trustee takes control of the process, the founders’ openness to a potential restart leaves a narrow window for parts of the business, and its original mission of accessible solar energy, to find a new path forward.