- Sun King has announced it has raised US$260 million in Series D funding, led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, along with M&G Investments’ Catalyst team and Arch Emerging Markets Partners.
- Founded in 2007 as Greenlight Planet, the company recently rebranded as Sun King.
- Sun King is provider of solar energy products for off-grid homes in Africa and Asia.
- The company’s solar home systems power lights, mobile phones, radios, and larger home appliances.
Sun King operates the world’s largest direct-to-consumer, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar distribution network, growing at a rate of 150,000 new clients per month across seven countries. In Kenya, one in five people use Sun King today, with 18 million Kenyans having benefited over a decade of operations. In Nigeria, the company’s user base has tripled in the past year alone. While growing rapidly, the company has remained consistently profitable.
Sun King now accounts for 38% of total industry-wide PAYG solar revenue according to the latest data collected by GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry.
The $260 million financing includes $100 million in primary investment for Sun King’s continued expansion. Sun King’s founders retain voting control of the board. In addition to the company’s plans for continued geographical expansion, the funds will also be allocated towards product-line expansion, including larger solar systems equipped with AC-electricity inverters (capable of powering larger appliances like refrigerators) and new products such as mobile phones.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
