Sun King 2022

Sun King (Greenlight Planet)

 

Ekta Partners acted as lead financial advisor on Sun King’s $330m Series D fundraise led by General Atlantic, with the participation of LeapFrog Investments and M&G Catalyst; one of the largest ever African tech fundraises.

Sun King, the largest provider of solar energy products for off-grid homes in Africa and Asia, has closed its $330m Series D round. Ekta Partners acted as the lead financial advisor to the Company on the transaction.

With its affordable solar power systems for individual homes, Sun King is leading a transformation in how people gain access to electricity across Africa and Asia. The company’s products have so far provided light and power to 95 million people who lacked access to reliable electricity and have prevented more than 24 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions. Sun King solar home systems are dramatically more affordable and sustainable than kerosene or new power lines, allowing customers to leapfrog electrical grids and fossil-fuel energy sources entirely.

This investment was led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, along with LeapFrog Investments, M&G Investments’ Catalyst team and Arch Emerging Markets Partners. The funding will support the company’s plans to make consumer-financed solar power available to the 1.8 billion consumers across Africa and Asia who lack access to reliable electricity. It comes as increasing global energy prices and rising food costs have widened the electricity access gap.  

Sun King’s Series D included secondary investment to complete the successful exit of all of Sun King’s prior institutional investors. Sun King’s founders retain voting control and as part of this transaction, the board will include representatives of Series D investors General Atlantic, M&G Investments, and LeapFrog Investments, as well as Prabha Sinha, the company’s first investor.

Today, Sun King operates the world’s largest direct-to-consumer, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar distribution network, delivering solar to 165,000 homes per month across eight countries of operation in Africa. In Kenya, where Sun King has operated for over a decade, more than one in five people in the country now use Sun King for light and power, with 22 million Kenyans served to date. While growing rapidly, the company has remained consistently profitable. Since the closing of the initial General Atlantic–led Series D round in April 2022, the business has achieved 95% year-over-year revenue growth.

In the last twelve months, Sun King has delivered 24 megawatts of solar generation capacity to three million homes and expanded into three new countries: Mozambique, Togo, and Cameroon. The company has extended over $500 million of solar purchase financing to date. Its network of over 20,000 field agents, 36% of whom are women, offers green jobs in areas with limited employment opportunity.

“This investment in Sun King marks an incredible inflection point for the global off-grid solar industry,” said T. Patrick Walsh, co-founder, and CEO of Sun King. “Over the last 15 years, we have delivered solar energy and light to over 82 million people, enabling kids to study for school, helping entrepreneurs run small businesses, and allowing families to power their lives, free from the danger and high cost of kerosene lanterns. This landmark investment allows us to continue scaling our technology, service, and financing capabilities so we can meet the needs of the next billion energy consumers.”

 “Sun King is leading a global transformation in the way we provide electricity to consumers in Africa and Asia,” said Sun King co-founder Anish Thakkar. “It’s now dramatically more affordable to power a home with a solar system than to extend the electrical grid: for less than the cost of a single electrical pole, we can install an entire solar energy system in-home. This funding will further unlock our ability to scale this revolution to the 1.8 billion people who need these products today, and the next billion who will need them tomorrow.”

 “BeyondNetZero is excited to back Sun King, an industry-leading company that offers consumers accessible and affordable solar products, supported by fair and sustainable business practices,” said Eli Aheto, Managing Director on the BeyondNetZero team at General Atlantic. “We look forward to partnering with the company and its leadership as they bring innovative and affordable off-grid solar products to new markets and continue to grow their meaningful contribution to the global net-zero transition.”

Karima Ola, Partner, LeapFrog Investments, said: “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.

“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.”

Ekta Partners acted as the lead financial advisor for this transaction.

About Sun King

Sun King is the world’s largest off-grid solar energy company with cutting-edge product design, affordable financing, and a grassroots installation model to provide energy to the 1.8 billion consumers across Africa and Asia who lack access to reliable electricity. Founded in 2007, Sun King sets the gold standard for off-grid solar performance and design as part of its mission: powering access to brighter lives. For more information, please visit: www.sunking.com

About BeyondNetZero

BeyondNetZero is the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. BeyondNetZero invests in growth companies delivering innovative climate solutions that have the potential to meet and exceed net zero emissions targets, with a focus on decarbonization, energy efficiency, resource conservation and emissions management. This venture combines General Atlantic’s growth equity experience and global network with a team of experienced climate investors, advisors and industry executives who bring decades of experience in both addressing climate-focused problems and building pioneering growth companies. For more information on BeyondNetZero, please visit: https://beyond-net-zero.com.

About General Atlantic

General Atlantic is a leading global growth equity firm with more than four decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 445 growth companies throughout its history. Established in 1980 to partner with visionary entrepreneurs and deliver lasting impact, the firm combines a collaborative global approach, sector specific expertise, a long-term investment horizon and a deep understanding of growth drivers to partner with great entrepreneurs and management teams to scale innovative businesses around the world. General Atlantic currently has over $84 billion in assets under management inclusive of all products as of December 31, 2021, and more than 215 investment professionals based in New York, Amsterdam, Beijing, Hong Kong, Jakarta, London, Mexico City, Mumbai, Munich, Palo Alto, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore, and Stamford. For more information on General Atlantic, please visit: www.generalatlantic.com.

About LeapFrog Investments

LeapFrog invests in exceptional businesses in Africa and Asia, partnering with their leaders to achieve leaps of growth, profitability, and social impact. LeapFrog’s portfolio companies now reach 407 million people across 30 countries with healthcare or financial services tools. LeapFrog has raised over US$2bn from global institutional investors, including US$500m recently committed by Temasek to LeapFrog and its future funds. LeapFrog was ranked by Fortune as one of the top five Companies to Change the World, the first private investment firm ever listed. For more information, go to: www.leapfroginvest.com.

About M&G Investments

M&G Investments’ Catalyst strategy is investing up to £5 billion into innovative privately-owned global businesses working to create a more sustainable world. For over ninety years M&G Investments has been helping its customers to prosper by putting investments to work, which in turn creates jobs, homes, and vital infrastructure in the real economy.   Its investment solutions span equities, fixed income, multi asset, cash, private debt, infrastructure, and real estate. M&G Investments is part of M&G plc, a FTSE-100 listed company with over £370 billion of assets under management (as of 31 December 2021), and customers in the UK, Europe, the Americas, and Asia, including individual savers and investors, life insurance policy holders and pension scheme members.