South Africa appears to be leading the continent when it comes to the confidence of investors in the African blockchain industry. The latest blockchain startup to raise funds on the continent is Sun Exchange, the peer-to-peer solar leasing platform which enables almost anyone, anywhere in the world, to buy remotely-located solar cells that power schools, businesses and other organisations. The startup has closed its $4 million Series-A funding round, raising $3 million in the process, from Africa Renewable Power Fund managed by London-based ARCH Emerging Markets Partners.
“This milestone unlocks the next phase of growth for Sun Exchange, which includes building our team, creating several new, sustainable, clean energy jobs, and providing our growing user base the opportunity to further diversify their solar cell portfolios across new regions and industries. With our shared passion for driving renewable energy proliferation and sustainability across Africa, ARCH is the perfect partner for Sun Exchange as we scale,” Abe Cambridge, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Sun Exchange said.
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Here Is What You Need To Know
- With this investment, Sun Exchange will allow clients “to further diversify their solar cell portfolios across regions and industries.”
- The company is also exploring a number of different markets in sub-Saharan Africa, including Namibia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, Cambridge.
- The startup has been trying to secure funding for its Series A from different sources over the past 18 months or so, including, reportedly, an Uprise.Africa crowdfunding campaign that secured some capital for it but which capital the startup ended up returning to investors due to failure to beat deadline from regulatory authorities.
- Earlier this year, similar blockchain-inspired startup Centee also raised some undisclosed amount of funding from an Amsterdam-based VC fund Two Hop Ventures.
Why The Investor Invested
First off, the $3 million — which closed Sun Exchange’s $4 million Series A — came from the Africa Renewable Power Fund, which is part of the funds under London’s ARCH Emerging Markets Partners’ management. With a size of $200 million, the fund has previously invested in Azimuth Solar Ghana, Achwa Projects 1 & 2 Uganda, among others. The Africa Renewable Energy Fund (AREF) invests into small hydro, wind, geothermal, solar, and biomass projects across Sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa. This investment in Sun Exchange is therefore an extremely rare case. This is also the first blockchain-inspired cleantech startup to be backed from the fund.
“Sun Exchange is positioned to emerge as an enabling force in the imminent global energy and economic transformation, with a first-of-a-kind platform that harnesses the power of a united global community to unlock the potential of distributed solar power in emerging markets,” said William Barry, managing director of ARCH.
“ARCH is thrilled to partner with Sun Exchange on this journey to expand the success the company has already seen in South Africa throughout ARPF’s target markets in Sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
What Sun Exchange Does
The basic idea behind Sun Exchange is simple:
- You buy solar cells — the flat panels that produce energy when they are exposed to sunlight.
- You lease them out to a customer, whose rooftops they will be installed. These are schools, hospitals, churches etc typically. Installation takes a few weeks after the project is fully funded.
- The customer gets electricity from your solar cells and pays you for it. You just sit back.
- As the solar cell replaces electricity otherwise produced by fossil fuels, everyone saves on CO2 emissions.
How to buy solar cells on Sun Exchange
The process itself is pretty simple, especially if you have a credit card.
- Sign up to https://thesunexchange.com
- Once inside, navigate to the currently available projects. Choose one you want to invest in.
- Choose the number of solar cells you wish you buy.
- Choose whether you want your returns in South Africa’s currency ZAR or BTC (Bitcoin)
- Optionally, choose if you want to donate part of your revenue to a selected cause
- Place the order. You can pay with credit card, Bitcoin or wire transfer.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer.