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Sun King, an off-grid solar energy company, has raised $40 million in equity financing from Lightrock. The investment will support Sun King’s expansion of decentralised solar energy systems across Africa and Asia, and the company’s continued development of new products catering to the needs of underserved households and businesses in these regions.
Over the past 18 years, Sun King has built a scaled distributed energy utility model that combines energy generation, energy-efficient appliances, installation, and consumer financing in a single integrated offering, now serving over 50 million people with power and light. The company’s wide range of solar systems serve individual households, businesses, and institutions that have no or unreliable access to grid power. The products range from affordable solar kits for basic home lighting and phone charging, to multi-kilowatt solar inverter systems that power large residences, schools, health clinics, farms, and commercial facilities.
Sun King’s pay-as-you-go model enables customers to buy solar systems with 12–24 months of purchase financing. This makes solar accessible for as little as $0.15-$0.20 per day, lowering the upfront cost that keeps low-income households and businesses locked out of reliable electricity.
Building on its model for affordable solar kits, Sun King is expanding into the energy-efficient appliances: fans, smartphones, and refrigerators, for example. The company makes these products affordable through pay-as-you-go financing and supports them through a service network of more than 470 shops and 35,000 field agents.
“Lightrock brings a deep understanding of our customers’ needs and a clear commitment to expanding access to energy,” said T. Patrick Walsh, CEO and co-founder of Sun King. “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.”
Arul Thomas, partner at Lightrock, added: “Sun King exemplifies the type of proven, scalable solution we seek to support at Lightrock. The team’s execution ability in growing to serve 50 million people is truly laudable, and we are delighted to partner with them as they continue expanding their customer offering, operations, and international presence to address the critical global challenge of energy access.”
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