Sun King (formerly known as Greenlight Planet) – a provider of solar energy products for off-grid homes in Africa and Asia – raised $260 million in a Series D funding round.
The round was led by BeyondNetZero, the climate investing venture of General Atlantic, along with M&G Investments’ Catalyst team and Arch Emerging Markets Partners.
The company plans to use the fresh funds to bring electricity access rapidly and sustainably to more homes across Africa and Asia. The initial $100 million funds will be used for the company’s continued expansion. Sun King’s founders retain voting control of the board.
According to the latest data collected by the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA), the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry reported that Sun King accounts for 38% of total industry-wide pay-as-you-go solar revenue.
Ekta Partners acted as the lead financial advisor for the transaction. Goodwin Procter provided legal counsel to Sun King, and Freshfields provided legal counsel to BeyondNetZero.
According to Mercom’s Q1 2022 solar funding and M&A report, global VC funding for the solar sector in Q1 2022 came to $1.2 billion in 26 deals, a 19% higher year-over-year compared to Q1 2021. A total of 58 VC investors participated in Q1 2022 compared to 33 in Q4 2021.
In March 2021, Canadian Solar, a manufacturer of solar PV modules, provider of solar energy and battery storage solutions, and SolarWorX, a Berlin-based start-up, designing and manufacturing the next generation of solar pay-as-you-go solutions sold on a B2B basis to distribution partners across sub-Saharan Africa, entered into a strategic partnership in which Canadian Solar will invest in SolarWorX as part of the start-up’s series A investment round. Canadian Solar, as the lead investor, is joined by co-investors EIT InnoEnergy and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft. The funding will help SolarWorX to expand its product portfolio and sales activities.
