01 · Returns Calculator
The first release answered the question everyone asked first: do the numbers even work for a house like mine? It proved the economics in plain peso terms — before we built anything else.
Our story
Making solar simple — and trustworthy — for every Filipino home.
We are a student venture from the Asian Institute of Management, building the clear, honest readiness layer that helps Filipino households decide on solar with confidence — and connects them to installers they can trust.
How we got here
The questions built the product.
Apolaki is named after the Filipino god of the sun. The idea began as our team's first-stage manuscript, "CarbonConnect," which named a problem we kept hearing in Filipino homes: people were not against solar — they were unsure. The barrier was investment and trust, not interest. In our second stage at the Asian Institute of Management (Master in Innovation & Business), CarbonConnect became Apolaki, operating as VESS Corp.
From there, we did not write a roadmap behind closed doors. We shipped, listened, and let real questions from homeowners and installers shape what came next — across four public, feedback-driven releases.
02 · Analysis Platform
We added satellite assessment with NASA POWER irradiance and Google Solar rooftop data — so credibility comes from real irradiance and your own roof, not a generic average.
03 · Multi-role app
The third release became a real product: sign-in, a consent-based onboarding that asks permission before anything is shared, and a light/dark theme so it feels at home on any device.
04 · Production on Google Cloud
The current build runs on Google Cloud with bill-OCR onboarding — snap your electricity bill instead of typing — and the "Apolaki Intelligence" dashboard that turns your numbers into a decision.
Why we exist
Mission & vision
Two statements we hold ourselves to — and one word we keep coming back to.
Our vision
"Apolaki envisions becoming the Philippines' trusted digital infrastructure for residential and small commercial solar adoption — guiding customers from awareness and readiness assessment to quotation, financing, installation, net-metering support, and post-installation monitoring."
Our mission
"To make a trusted solar decision as understandable as reviewing a monthly household or business expense: clear enough for a customer to act, structured enough for a qualified partner to respond, and transparent enough to support future finance access."
Our work is anchored to UN Sustainable Development Goal 7 — Affordable and Clean Energy, and supported by SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth) through the installers and livelihoods we help connect, and SDG 13 (climate action) through every roof that switches to the sun.
The word that ties us to SDG 7 is affordable.
What we stand for
Our values
Four commitments that show up in the product, not just in a deck.
Clarity over sales pressure
We help you understand the decision, then step back. No countdown timers, no pushy quotes — just a report you can sit with and trust.
Privacy by architecture
Your data stays private until you choose to connect. Only anonymised rooftop metrics are ever shared, and only with your consent — by design, not by promise.
Honest, assumption-shown numbers
Every estimate shows its working: what is known, what is assumed, and what an installer must confirm. We would rather under-promise than impress.
Affordable access
Assessment is free for homeowners — always. Clarity should not be a luxury, and affordability begins with knowing where you stand.
Measurement & Verification
Our M&V statement
Apolaki exists to make a solar decision trustworthy, so we hold ourselves to a clear standard for how our numbers are produced, checked and kept honest over time.
Every estimate is anchored on the user's real electricity bill and tariff — not a generic national average. From that starting point, we expose our assumptions openly: the rate we used, the share of generation we expect you to self-consume, and how net-metering credits are treated. Every estimate explains what is known, what is assumed, what an installer must confirm, and what to do next. We do this because of a principle we will not bend: an estimate that is trusted but wrong is worse than no tool at all. A number that looks precise but hides its assumptions does more damage than a blank page.
That is why an Apolaki estimate is the beginning of a decision, not the end of one. When you choose to connect, a qualified installer re-confirms the figures against a real site visit and a real quote. We treat that step as an accuracy gate: the installer's confirmation either validates our estimate or corrects it, and either way the user sees the difference. After installation, optional post-installation monitoring closes the loop by comparing the savings we promised against the savings actually delivered — so the system is accountable to its own forecast.
Privacy is part of measurement, not separate from it. We protect users through anonymisation: only anonymised rooftop metrics are shared with installers, and only when the user actively connects, consistent with the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (RA 10173). Our validation discipline is just as deliberate. Features are validated against observed behaviour together with a stated reason for the conclusion, and we set go, pivot, or pause gates before testing rather than rationalising results afterward.
We want to be plain about what this is and is not. Today, Apolaki is bill-anchored, installer-confirmed estimation plus post-installation monitoring — a rigorous, transparent forecast that improves as it meets reality. It is not yet measured performance across a large installed fleet, and we will not claim it as such until the data earns it. When that evidence arrives, it will be shown the same way everything else is: with its assumptions in full view.
The team
Founders
Three co-founders from the Asian Institute of Management, building Apolaki as VESS Corp.
JE
Josa C. Elegado
Co-founder · Partnerships & Operations
AIM Master in Innovation & Business. Josa leads partnerships and operations — bringing installers on board and keeping the day-to-day running.
SP
Sreenivas Sadhu Prabhakara
Co-founder · Product & Technology
AIM Master in Innovation & Business. Sreenivas builds the product and the platform — from the readiness engine to the app you use.
AV
Alberto D. Villanueva Jr.
Co-founder · Strategy & Growth
AIM Master in Innovation & Business. Alberto leads strategy and growth — shaping where Apolaki goes next and how we get there.
Guided by AIM faculty advisors across strategy, finance, technology and economics — with community partner Home Buddies and its ‘Solar Buddies’ series.
Early traction
Directional signals, honestly reported
Where we are after four public iterations — early evidence that the problem is real and the approach resonates.
200+
Interested homeowners who tried our public tools
4
Public app iterations, each shaped by real feedback
2
Installer partners working with us today
5
Installs in the pipeline toward completion
These are early, self-reported signals from our own iterations — directional evidence, not audited results.
Join us
Be part of the shift to affordable, clean energy.
Whether you live under a Filipino roof or build solar for a living, there is a place for you here. Start free, or partner with us.