Sun King, an African and Asian provider of off-grid solar energy solutions, has received a $70 million equity investment led by LeapFrog Investments. It is an extension of the solar company’s $260 million Series D investment, which was led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing initiative of General Atlantic and M&G Investments’ Catalyst and Arch Emerging Markets Partners. Sun King has now concluded its Series D round at $330 million, raising approximately $550 million in debt and equity since its founding.
Sun King’s founders will retain voting control. As part of the agreement, LeapFrog, which invested in African fintech behemoth Interswitch in May, joins Sun King’s board of directors, which now comprises General Atlantic, M&G Investments, and Prabha Sinha, the company’s original investor.
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This extension, which includes an additional primary investment of $38 million, will be used to grow the company’s PAYG solutions, launch larger setups capable of powering equipment such as refrigerators, and increase the company’s presence. According to the company, the extension includes an extra secondary investment that will be utilised to entirely exit all of Sun King’s prior institutional investors.
Why The Investors Invested
Sun King claims to be the world’s largest of its kind. According to the company, it has delivered solar energy to 165,000 homes per month across eight African countries — and in Kenya, where it has been operating for more than a decade, more than one in every five people use its product for light and power, accounting for 22 million Kenyans served to date. Sun King stated that since its inception in 2007 by chief executive officer Patrick Walsh and Anish Thakkar, its products have provided light and power to 95 million people in its African and Asian markets, including Cameroon, Mozambique, and Togo, three countries into which it has recently expanded.
Through a network of over 20,000 field agents, 36% of whom are women, the solar energy company has also offered more than $500 million in solar purchase finance.
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“We are proud that LeapFrog is investing in Sun King to expand access to energy with renewable solar power,” said Thakkar. “LeapFrog brings a wealth of experience meeting the needs of customers in the countries where we are working to make solar energy solutions easily accessible to everyone.”
“Sun King is leading the way in providing sustainable, safe and reliable electricity access to emerging consumers in Africa and Asia. The company’s off-grid solar systems will be vital in filling the growing electricity accessibility gap and ensuring these emerging countries avoid the carbon dioxide emissions and detrimental health impacts that result from energy sources like diesel generators, wood burners and kerosene,” said Karima Ola, partner at LeapFrog Investments. “Through innovative payment models, Sun King ensures that consumers don’t bear the upfront cost of a clean energy transition, allowing them to leapfrog directly to less carbon-intensive consumption. We are pleased to be partnering with Sun King for the next stage of their impressive growth journey.”
A Look At What Sun King Does
Many African households and communities lack access to affordable and dependable solar technology, which limits their potential to generate electricity and reduces their dependency on grid-based power. Businesses such as Sun King provide direct-to-consumer, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar distribution networks, allowing houses and people to obtain electricity at a low cost.
Sun King claims to be profitable and to have increased its revenue by 95% year on year since the initial Series D investment nine months ago.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh