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
Zambon Announces European Commission Approval of Hopledo® for Adults with Parkinson's Disease and Moderate to Severe Motor Fluctuations28.8.2026 11:00:00 CEST | Press release
Hopledo® is a first-in-class, oral, modified-release formulation of levodopa/carbidopa (LD/CD) approved for the treatment of motor fluctuations of Parkinson’s disease Zambon expects to begin the phased introduction of Hopledo® across European markets starting October 2026 The approval is based on data from the Phase 3 RISE-PD trial where Hopledo® demonstrated a significant increase in Good ON time compared with immediate-release LD/CD with fewer daily doses and a comparable safety profile Zambon today announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorization for Hopledo® (modified-release levodopa/carbidopa) for the treatment of adult patients with Parkinson’s disease and moderate to severe motor fluctuations who have not been sufficiently stabilized with oral levodopa/dopa decarboxylase (DDC) inhibitor-based treatment regimens. Zambon expects to begin the phased introduction of Hopledo® across European markets starting October 2026. The company is working closely
MTG-I2 Safely in Orbit, Unlocking Faster and Sharper Weather Monitoring Across Europe28.8.2026 10:16:00 CEST | Press release
The Meteosat Third Generation Imager 2 satellite (MTG-I2) has successfully passed its first critical post-launch milestones, completing the first full Meteosat Third Generation constellation in orbit. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260828243790/en/ Credit: Arianespace livestream The imager satellite MTG-I2 is safely in orbit and operating as expected following its successful launch yesterday at 22:11 CEST on board an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Our teams have established communication with the spacecraft, which has also deployed its solar panels to ensure its autonomous production of energy. MTG-I2 is in perfect shape to start its Launch and Early Operations Phase that will bring it to a higher orbit, 36 000km above Earth over the following two weeks, where a longer period of calibration and validation of its instruments will begin. This summer’s extreme weather and wildfires hav
New Daiichi Sankyo Data Underscore the Effect of Bempedoic Acid in the Real-World Management of Dyslipidemia and Cardiovascular risk28.8.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release
Analyses from the multinational MILOS study show that LDL-C reductions achieved with up to one year of treatment with bempedoic acid-containing therapies translate to a 17.1% relative reduction and a 4.8% absolute reduction in predicted 10-year cardiovascular risk.1 Real-world data demonstrated clinically relevant mean LDL-C reductions of at least 24.9%, regardless of patient gender or glycaemic status, after one year of follow-up.2,3 Findings presented at ESC Congress 2026 reinforce the clinical value of bempedoic acid in routine clinical practice, and demonstrate the continued investment of Daiichi Sankyo in addressing outstanding unmet needs in cardiovascular disease (CVD). Daiichi Sankyo (TSE:4568) today announced new results from the MILOS study that demonstrate the real-world impact of bempedoic acid administered either alone or as a fixed-dose combination with ezetimibe, in the management of dyslipidaemia. Presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2026 in Munich,
TVS Motor Company Appoints Peyman Kargar as Director and Chief Executive Officer28.8.2026 09:31:00 CEST | Press release
Peyman Kargar appointed Director and Chief Executive Officer of TVS Motor Company, effective January 27, 2027 K. N. Radhakrishnan to continue as Director and Chief Executive Officer until then and subsequently will serve as Non-Executive Director up to the date of the ensuing AGM scheduled in July 2027 Appointment supports TVS Motor Company's next phase of growth and innovation TVS Motor Company, part of TVS VENU and a leading global manufacturer of two and three-wheelers, today announced the appointment of Peyman Kargar as Director and Chief Executive Officer, effective January 27, 2027. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260827012301/en/ Peyman Kargar Peyman will succeed K. N. Radhakrishnan, who will continue in his role until then to ensure a seamless transition. Following the transition, Radhakrishnan will serve as Non-Executive Director up to the date of the ensuing AGM scheduled in July 2027. He has been a
Philips and Imricor Launch Cardiac Interventional MR Lab Solution, Expanding Longstanding Collaboration27.8.2026 21:27:00 CEST | Press release
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, and Imricor Medical Systems (ASX: IMR), a pioneer and world-leading developer of MR-compatible products for interventional MR procedures, today announced a new Interventional MR (iMR) lab solution for Philips 1.5T MR. The first commercially available configuration* combines Philips’ 1.5T MRI platform and Imricor's portfolio of iMR systems and consumables, enabling an MR-guided workflow for cardiac intervention, without compromising on MR field strength. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260827693715/en/ Meeting the need for greater tissue insight during cardiac intervention Cardiac arrhythmias affect millions of people worldwide, and catheter ablation is an established and increasingly utilized treatment for many complex cardiac arrhythmias. Yet today, these procedures continue to rely primarily on X-ray fluoroscopy, which provides only
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