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Sun King’s $150 million funding for green energy expansion in Kenya
British International Investment (BII), the UK’s leading development finance institution and impact investor, along with Stanbic Bank Kenya, part of the Standard Bank Group, have jointly pledged their support for the Kenyan off-grid solar energy sector. This commitment comes as part of a $130 million funding round for Sun King, a front-runner in the solar energy industry, and a joint $20 million working capital facility.
Sun King, which to date has positively influenced the lives of over 100 million people by providing access to green and reliable energy, is set for further expansion. The firm has earned the backing of distinguished development finance institutions (DFIs) and commercial lenders, including Absa, BII, FMO, Norfund, Stanbic Bank Kenya, Trade and Development Bank (TDB), and Citi.
These two concurrent commitments will catalyse the growth of Sun King by enabling the purchase of more solar home systems and solar lanterns. Moreover, they will facilitate customers’ access to new solar products via credit, backed by investors. This marks a substantial step forward in Sun King’s mission to equip more Kenyan households and businesses with environmentally friendly and state-of-the-art energy solutions.
$130 million worth of the funding provides a much-needed capital injection to Kenya’s off-grid solar energy sector, leveraging Sun King’s market share. It extends access to pay-as-you-go solar home systems and energy-efficient equipment for underserved customers across the country. Notably, around half of Sun King’s registered pay-as-you-go users in Kenya are women, who are often accessing formal financing products for the first time.
BII and Stanbic are further supporting Sun King with an additional $20 million working capital facility. This funding will bolster Sun King’s capacity to deliver more high-quality, affordable products to a market with a burgeoning demand.
Three out of every ten Kenyans live without access to electricity so the impact funding initiative is said to assist Kenyan households and businesses in making the transition to clean, reliable, and affordable solar energy and appliances.
Sun King, nurtured with early-stage funding from DFIs including BII, has now become the world’s largest off-grid solar energy company, closing a $330 million Series D equity round of funding in 2022, attracting investment from private equity investors General Atlantic, M&G and Leapfrog.
