GREENLIGHT-PLANET-INC
22.9.2020 15:02:45 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
Greenlight Planet Inc., the largest provider of solar-powered home energy products in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, has secured $90 million in new funding to expand its Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) solar consumer financing business and consolidate its debt portfolio. Akira Partners and Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe advised Greenlight Planet.
Under its Sun King brand, Greenlight Planet operates the largest direct-to-consumer PAYG solar distribution and service network in the world, having delivered over 1.3 million PAYG solar products to date in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Nigeria, expanding at a rate of over 65,000 new rooftop solar installations per month. The company employs 1,250 full-time staff worldwide, and over 5,500 sales agents, 30% of whom are women, across areas of sub-Saharan Africa suffering from high levels of unemployment.
The new debt and equity investments were provided by European development finance institutions CDC Group, FMO, and Norfund, along with impact investors ResponsAbility, SIMA Funds, Symbiotics, Global Partnerships, and private equity firm ARCH Emerging Markets Partners’ Africa Renewable Power Fund. Of the total $90 million in committed funding, $69 million has been disbursed to the company, with the balance to be drawn down as the company delivers additional solar-powered home energy systems, with end-consumer financing, to homes in Africa.
Sun King solar products include home lighting, mobile phone chargers, radios, televisions, and fans, as well as the solar panels and batteries to power these appliances. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, such solar-powered home energy systems have proven all the more essential to families spending more time at home. Families depend on Sun King energy access and appliances for light, communication, entertainment, and access to news and information.
Greenlight Planet’s Sun King solar-powered home energy systems have a profound social impact for off-grid families around the world. Sixty million individuals across 65 countries have used them to access clean, renewable energy. This access to energy increases the time children spend studying, increases productivity for small businesses, and reduces spending on old-fashioned energy products. Sun King products have saved over $3.4 billion on fossil-fuel-based energy costs, reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by more than 14 million metric tons.
T. Patrick Walsh, Co-founder and CEO of Greenlight Planet added, “Greenlight Planet’s goal is to bring affordable, clean energy to every under-electrified household that needs it. After a decade of honing our solar technology and our solar distribution, installation, and service strategy, we are now jumping the last hurdle to solve this global challenge, that being financial inclusion. We are expanding access to consumer financing, making basic solar power available to all people, at a cost as low as $0.15 per day. We are delighted to work with CDC, Norfund, FMO, ResponsAbility, SIMA Funds, Symbiotics, Global Partnerships and ARCH to expand access to finance and access to energy.”
Geoffrey Manley, Director and Head of Energy Access and Efficiency at CDC Group added, “Our financing of Greenlight Planet provides our team with a great opportunity to support a company that is creating jobs and taking meaningful strides to fight climate change. We’re thrilled that our commitment promotes the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, helping to facilitate economic development across the African continent.”
William Barry, Managing Director at ARCH Africa Renewable Power Fund (ARPF) added, “ARCH ARPF is delighted to support Greenlight Planet’s continued growth as it delivers on its mandate to expand energy access across sub-Saharan Africa. Greenlight's global market leadership in the off-grid solar sector positions the company strongly within ARPF’s expanding off-grid renewable energy portfolio, complementing our existing utility-scale, independent-power-producer development pipeline.”
About Greenlight Planet
Greenlight Planet is a social-mission, for-profit business that since 2009 has sold over 13 million of its Sun King solar home energy products to off-grid customers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The company reaches customers through its direct-to-consumer distribution and financing network, as well as wholesale partnerships with over 300 commercial and non-profit last-mile distributors, ranging from mobile network operators, to microfinance institutions, to oil and gas companies, to NGOs. Greenlight Planet’s Sun King products are currently installed in over 65 countries and have served 60 million people.
Find out more at https://www.greenlightplanet.com .
About the Off-Grid Solar Industry:
Relevant (unaffiliated) aggregators of industry information include the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association and Lighting Global (a platform of the World Bank Group, to support sustainable growth of the international off-grid solar market)
www.gogla.org
www.lightingglobal.org
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200922005395/en/
Link:
Social Media:
https://www.facebook.com/SunKingIndia/?brand_redir=106681909393159
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
IQM Secures €50M Financing to Accelerate Global Growth30.3.2026 08:00:00 CEST | Press release
€50 million financing package from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock will support IQM to scale operations, accelerate product development, and strengthen its market position. The facility will support acceleration of IQM’s technology roadmap, fuel R&D, support entry into additional markets, and advance IQM’s leadership in quantum computing as IQM prepares for public listing. IQM Finland Oy, a global leader in full-stack superconducting quantum computers (“IQM”, “IQM Quantum Computers” or the “Company”), today announced it has secured a €50 millionfinancing package from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260329996942/en/ IQM Radiance quantum computer is located in IQM's showroom in Espoo, Finland. This facility will support acceleration of IQM’s technology roadmap, fuel R&D, support entry into additional markets, and advance IQM’s leadership in quantum computing. This
Bureau Veritas and Trade Technologies Join Forces to Streamline Global Trade Operations30.3.2026 07:45:00 CEST | Press release
Bureau Veritas, a global leader in Testing, Inspection, and Certification services (TIC), through its Swiss branch Government Services Division, is pleased to announce a strategic agreement with Trade Technologies, the leading provider of trade finance automation, connectivity and transaction management services. This collaboration is a significant step toward reducing the complexities of international trade operations, particularly in regions where regulatory and inspection controls remain stringent. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260329411683/en/ Addressing Critical Trade Finance Challenges The agreement comes at a pivotal time for global trade. Letters of Credit (LCs) continue to serve as essential instruments in international commerce, particularly across the Middle East and Africa, where counterparty risk, foreign exchange controls, sanctions exposure, and regulatory oversight face ongoing challenges. In
Consortium Led by Axelspace Selected for Japan’s Space Strategy Fund Project “Technology to Enhance Capability of Next Generation Earth Observation Satellites”30.3.2026 01:35:00 CEST | Press release
~ Creating Climate Solutions and New Market Opportunities through Source-Specific CO2 Emission and Uptake Monitoring via Satellite Constellation and Aircraft ~ Axelspace Corporation, Meisei Electric Co., Ltd., ANA HOLDINGS INC., and JIJ Inc. are pleased to announce that their jointly proposed technology development project has been selected for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)’s Space Strategy Fund under the theme “Technology to Enhance Capability of Next Generation Earth Observation Satellites.” This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260323044518/en/ Conceptual Diagram of the project. Under this Space Strategy Fund initiative, spectrometers will be newly developed and demonstrated in orbit. In the future, the project envisions the establishment of a satellite constellation capable of observations at different times of the day. Project Summary (Planned) Technology Development Theme: Technology to Enhance Cap
Incyte Announces New Positive 54-Week Late-Breaking Data for Povorcitinib in Hidradenitis Suppurativa at the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting28.3.2026 20:00:00 CET | Press release
Phase 3 data from the STOP-HS program demonstrate povorcitinib’s substantial and durable clinical efficacy through Week 54 in patients with moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). Through Week 54, clinically meaningful and durable responses were observed across all groups in both STOP-HS1 and STOP-HS2, with up to 71.4% of patients achieving HiSCR50. Improvements in clinical responses across high stringent thresholds were observed, with up to 57% of participants achieving HiSCR75 and up to 29% of participants achieving HiSCR100. Povorcitinib treatment led to consistent reductions across key inflammatory lesion types, with full resolution (ANdT=0) achieved in up to 20% of patients. Additionally, clinically meaningful improvements in quality-of-life measures, including skin pain and fatigue, were observed at Week 54. The overall safety profile of povorcitinib through 54 weeks is consistent with previously reported data, and both doses were well tolerated. Incyte (Nasdaq:INCY) to
Takeda’s Zasocitinib Delivered Rapid and Durable Skin Clearance in a Convenient Once-Daily Pill, Affirming Promise to Reshape Psoriasis Care28.3.2026 20:00:00 CET | Press release
About 70% of patients treated with zasocitinib achieved clear or almost clear skin (sPGA 0/1) at week 16 in Phase 3 plaque psoriasis studies A significantly greater PASI 75 response rate versus placebo was observed as early as week 4 Safety profile consistent with Phase 2b studies with no new safety signals identified Takeda(TSE:4502/NYSE:TAK)today announced new data from the two pivotal Phase 3studies of zasocitinib (TAK-279), a next-generation, highly selective oral tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) inhibitor, in adults with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis (PsO).1 Presented as a late-breaking abstract at the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting, these data show that convenient once-daily oral zasocitinib demonstrated rapid and durable skin clearance with a safety profile consistent with Phase 2b studies.1,2 “Our goal in psoriasis treatment is clear or almost clear skin, and previously this has been achieved primarily with injectable therapies,” said Melinda Gooderham,
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom