Sun King, a company that sells off-grid solar energy solutions in Africa and Asia, has acquired an investment total of $70 million headed by LeapFrog Investments.
The $260 million Series D round, which the solar startup revealed in April and was spearheaded by BeyondNetZero, the joint climate investment initiative of General Atlantic, M&G Investments’ Catalyst, and Arch Emerging Markets Partners, is being extended.
Sun King has now raised more than $550 million in debt and equity since its founding and has closed its Series D round at $330 million.
Numerous homes and communities in Africa lack access to cost-effective and dependable solar technology, which restricts their capacity to produce their own electricity and increases their dependency on grid-based power.
Businesses like Sun King provide direct-to-consumer, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar distribution networks, allowing houses and individuals to obtain electricity at a discount.
Sun King claims to be the biggest company of its sort worldwide. In eight African nations, the company claims to have provided solar energy to 165,000 houses per month.
In Kenya, where the company has been active for more than ten years, more than one in five residents use its product for light and electricity, totaling 22 million Kenyans served to date.
Sun King noted that on a much broader scale, its products have supplied light and energy to 95 million people across its African and Asian markets, including Cameroon, Mozambique, and Togo, three countries it currently extended into, since its establishment in 2007 chief executive officer Patrick Walsh and Anish Thakkar.
Through a network of more than 20,000 field agents, 36% of whom are women, the solar energy provider has also supplied more than $500 million in solar purchase financing.
According to Thakkar, “We are pleased that LeapFrog is funding Sun King to increase access to energy using clean solar power.”
In the nations where we are trying to make solar energy solutions easily accessible to everyone, LeapFrog provides a wealth of experience in fulfilling client needs.
Since receiving the initial Series D investment nine months ago, Sun King promises to be profitable and has seen a 95% increase in revenue year over year.
In April, we said that a significant chunk of the startup capital will be utilized to extend the company’s footprint, create larger setups capable of powering products like refrigerators, and broaden its PAYG options.”
This expansion, which includes an additional primary investment of $38 million, will benefit from this work.
According to a statement from the company, the expansion also includes a secondary investment that will be used to totally oust all of Sun King’s previous institutional investors.
The original owners of Sun King will still have the deciding vote. LeapFrog, which invested in Interswitch, a major player in the African fintech market, in May, is now a member of Sun King’s board of directors together with General Atlantic, M&G Investments, and Prabha Sinha, the startup’s original investor.
Techbuild’s Take
Reliable energy is one of the biggest problems in Africa, which has prompted many to use fossil fuel generators.
However, more recently, talks have been sparked regarding climate change, namely how it affects Africa the most and how to reduce it globally.
One approach that is frequently used is offering a choice that can eliminate the need for fossil fuel generators while also giving people access to dependable power. One such alternative is solar energy.
As a result of efforts to slow climate change, the solar energy sector is growing and expanding. The sector has witnessed good investment for growth and focus on giving people access to clean energy.
The emphasis has thus far been on sustainable, dependable, renewable energy, which is what Sun King is all about, while also taking the need to lessen climate change into account.
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