Greenlight Planet Raises $60 Million For Off-Grid Solar Financing

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Greenlight Planet, one of the world’s leading off-grid solar providers, this week announced that it has successfully raised $60 million in new funding led by London-based private equity fund manager Apis Partners.

According to Greenlight Planet, its core market is “the 1.3 billion global consumers for whom the old-fashioned electrical grid is unavailable or too expensive.” The company provides a number of various solar energy products and has so far served over 27 million rural consumers across 60 countries. Greenlight Planet, through its line of Sun King solar products, offers a leading EasyBuy pay-as-you-go financing model that makes getting electricity access for the rural poor much more affordable and within reach.

The company boasts profitability in each of its last 10 financial quarters and currently operates the world’s largest direct-to-consumer, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar product distribution business, with more than 2,400 company-managed sales agents in five countries, and sells more than 25,000 solar products to off-grid consumers each month. Said-consumers are able to pay using mobile money systems and pay for their products over time for as little as 25-cents per day.

Greenlight’s Sun King platform includes technologies such as lighting, home energy systems, phone chargers, radios, fans, and will soon also include televisions.

This week’s new round of financing totaling $60 million in debt and equity capital will support Greenlight Planet’s plans to expand its solar-energy product lines, distribution networks, and financing capabilities in Africa and Asia. Led by Apis Growth Fund 1, the private equity fund managed by Apis Partners, other participants included existing shareholders Eight Roads Ventures and Bamboo Capital Partners.

APIS Partners“Today, for less than the cost of a single electrical pole, we can provide a solar home system with enough energy to power a complete range of appliances needed by rural consumers,” said Patrick Walsh, Co-Founder & CEO of Greenlight Planet. “Apis’s investment will allow us to continue rapidly expanding access to these life-changing products.”

“We are excited to partner with Greenlight Planet to serve over 1 billion underserved and unbanked customers with no access to electrification or financing,” added Matteo Stefanel, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Apis. “As the first consistently profitable, and hence proven-sustainable, company in the off-grid solar industry, Greenlight Planet is leading the off-grid solar sector in leapfrogging the electrical grid by providing reliable and affordable off-grid energy and financing for rural Africa.”


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Joshua S Hill

I'm a Christian, a nerd, a geek, and I believe that we're pretty quickly directing planet-Earth into hell in a handbasket! I also write for Fantasy Book Review (.co.uk), and can be found writing articles for a variety of other sites. Check me out at about.me for more.

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