About us
“Determined to be have solar, John explored the idea of hosting his panels on the roof of a barn across the street, owned by long-time friend and neighbour and somehow transferring the energy to his meter.”
John Kennedy
Our story
2014
It all began when John Kennedy (CEO) wanted to buy solar panels for his home, in Sydney, Australia. Only to discover that most of his roof was facing the wrong direction plus a dirty great big tree shading the rest, was not helping matters!
Determined to be green, John explored the idea of hosting his panels on the roof of a barn across the street, owned by a long-time friend and neighbour, then somehow transferring the energy to his meter.
At the same time, John had been exploring the “sharing economy” as a means to reduce waste through increased asset utilisation. It didn’t take long to join the dots, and the idea of virtual solar was born.
Ideas are easy. Now for the hard part – the how!
2015
Early-stage investors jumped on board.
Legal exploration was done as to how this needs to be set up safely and securely for all.
2016
Test marketed the idea on Facebook. Within days over 4,800 people registered worldwide.
2017
Correct energy licensing acquired.
Patent applied for.
2018
Insane amount of legals done and Product Disclosure Statement written.
The Huntley Group, an Australian Financial Services License holder were appointed as the trustee and the manager of the invested funds.
2019
The first test site (sandbox rules) installed and sold out straight away. The average order value of over $5,000 without any marketing spend.
2020
Test site generates higher than expected returns. Existing customers place deposits for more. New customers place deposits.
Rebuild site to be scaleable and made improvements from feedback.
Hello COVID/Lockdown.
PDS amended to allow variable sizes of virtual panels (ARSN: 612098110).
2021
Ready to launch
Hello COVID/Lockdown again……………..…..
team
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Terry Cuthbertson
Chairman
Terry has extensive corporate finance expertise, having advised several businesses and government organizations in relation to mergers, acquisitions and financing.
Formerly, Terry was a Partner of KPMG Corporate Finance and NSW Partner in Charge of Mergers and Acquisitions, where he coordinated government privatisations, mergers, divestitures and public offerings on the ASX for the New South Wales practice.
Terry held previous directorships on ASX listed My Net Fone Limited, Montec International, Austpac Resources NL, South American Iron and Steel and Sun BioMedical Limited.
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John Kennedy
CEO
John is a proven leader with international experience and a strong background growing disruptive technology businesses. He has worked in the digital and online media industries for over 20 years and has held directorships and senior management positions for more than 17 of those years.
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Joe Adendorff
Advisor and Accounting support
Chartered Accountant, Managing director of a Independent hotel group
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Briana Hibbert
General Manager
Briana holds a degree in Business with a major in Global Business Management and has spent the last five years in operations, strategy, and C-suite executive assistance across various industries. Her sharp business insight and strategic prowess are key to driving innovative solutions. Briana is eager to leverage her knowledge and capabilities to drive the launch, establishment, and growth of SolarCloud.
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Paul Young
Operations
Investor Representative
Paul’s 39 year career includes broad experience within the telecommunications, information technology, real estate, fleet management and energy industries.
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Alfonso Grillo
Lawyer
Legal adviser to SolarCloud
Alfonso has extensive experience in various aspects of commercial law, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic and
transactional advice, capital raisings, ASX listings, corporate structuring, due diligence assessments, corporate governance and
intellectual property issues.
Alfonso is currently a Director of ASX listed company Nagambie Resources Limited and advises a number of ASX listed companies.
He was selected for inclusion in the Asia Pacific Legal 500 (2009/10, 2010/11 and 2012/13) for Corporate/M&A, The Best LawyersTM
Australia 2019-2022 inclusive for Equity Capital Markets and as an Acritas Star Lawyer 2018-2021 inclusive.
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Tony Petani
Lawyer
Legal Adviser to SolarCloud
Tony is a corporate and commercial lawyer specialising in mergers & acquisitions, corporate structuring, commercial law and intellectual property. Whilst Tony has broad commercial understanding, he has particularly assisted clients in the fields of Information and Communication Technology, Media and Entertainment, Health and Finance. Tony has also assisted on large scale corporate financing transactions for listed and unlisted entities. In his spare time, Tony enjoys running, theatre and supporting the West Coast Eagles.
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Martin Essam
Martin is a stalwart of the Australian IT consulting industry with experience across four decades.
He has expertise across the full development stack and processes; and has particular expertise in middleware, integration and databases.
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Rich Atkinson
Rich has over 20 years experience building websites. He also has a great online development knowledge of Fintech products.
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Jeff Cooper
Jeffrey is the Founding Partner of business and marketing strategy consulting business Step Change. He is one of Australia’s leading growth marketing specialists and was crowned one Australia’s top marketers and entrepreneurs in B&T and Anthill magazine’s 30-under-30 Awards.
As a founding partner he reviews over 400 business models per year and brings a passion for business and extensive knowledge of human decision making and behaviour to a range of clients.