Sun King, an off-grid solar energy company based in Kenya with operations in eleven African nations, has obtained USD 40 million (EUR 34.1 million) in equity financing from sustainable investment platform Lightrock to support the ongoing development of new products and deploy more decentralized energy systems throughout Africa and Asia.
Sun King operates a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) direct-to-consumer solar distribution network for homes, businesses, and organizations with inconsistent or nonexistent grid power. From incredibly cheap solar kits for basic home lighting and phone charging to multi-kilowatt solar inverter systems that power large homes, schools, medical facilities, farms, and businesses, it offers a wide range of products.
The Kenyan-based business has supplied 29 million solar products worldwide since 2007 and given clients in Africa US$1.4 billion in financing.
By utilizing advancements in solar, control electronics, and battery science, the new capital will help expand the product line and advance the company’s goal of deploying 3.8 GW of new decentralized solar capacity by 2030.
“Sun King has grown from delivering 10,000 solar kits a month in 2017 to more than 330,000 each month today. We are working to expand to one million solar kits each month by 2030 to meet the basic energy needs of, at least, 200 million people, and this investment is part of the overall financing required to reach that operational scale,” said CEO and co-founder Patrick Walsh.
