Grace Ashiru
Sun King, a pan-African producer of solar energy, has acquired a $70 million equity investment from LeapFrog Investments.
Sun King sells off-grid solar energy products in Africa and Asia. These give homes and communities access to affordable and reliable solar technology that can generate electricity and make them less reliant on grid-based power.
The company is the largest direct-to-consumer, pay-as-you-go solar distribution network worldwide, serving over 95 million people in Africa and Asia, including 22 million in Kenya alone. The company says it has given solar power to 165,000 homes annually in eight African countries.
Sun King has also given over $500 million in solar purchase financing via a network of over 20,000 field agents, 36% of whom are women.
This fresh investment builds on the solar company’s $260 million Series D financing, spearheaded by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing initiative of General Atlantic and M&G Investments’ Catalyst and Arch Emerging Markets Partners.
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. Sun King’s Series D investment round now totals $330 million, bringing the company’s total debt and equity funding to more than $550 million since its start.
