Kenya-headquartered off-grid solar energy company Sun King has secured $40 million (about €34.1 million) in equity financing from sustainable investment platform Lightrock, marking a significant vote of confidence in Africa’s decentralised energy future.
The fresh capital will be used to expand Sun King’s pay-as-you-go solar solutions across Africa and Asia, accelerate the development of new solar products, and deepen access to affordable, reliable electricity for communities and businesses that remain underserved by national power grids.
The investment comes at a time when energy access gaps persist across Sub-Saharan Africa, despite growing demand for clean and affordable power solutions.
According to Sun King, the funding will also support its long-term ambition to deploy 3.8 gigawatts (GW) of decentralised solar capacity by 2030, a scale capable of transforming energy access for tens of millions of people.
Commenting on the milestone, CEO and co-founder Patrick Walsh said the company’s growth trajectory underscores the urgency of off-grid energy solutions, noting that Sun King has expanded “from delivering 10,000 solar kits a month in 2017 to more than 330,000 each month today.”
What Sun King Does
Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Kenya, Sun King operates a direct-to-consumer, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar distribution model, designed to serve households, businesses, and institutions with little or no access to reliable grid electricity.
Through this model, customers acquire solar systems upfront and pay for them gradually in small, manageable instalments, making clean energy affordable for low-income and off-grid communities.
The company’s product portfolio is deliberately broad, ranging from ultra-affordable solar kits that provide basic home lighting and phone charging, to multi-kilowatt solar inverter systems capable of powering large homes, schools, health clinics, farms, and commercial facilities.
This flexible approach allows Sun King to serve diverse energy needs, from basic household consumption to productive and institutional use, while reducing reliance on diesel generators and other polluting energy sources.
Market Size, Capacity and Achievements So Far
Sun King’s scale and impact reflect the growing market for decentralised renewable energy in Africa. Since inception, the company has delivered over 29 million solar products globally and facilitated $1.4 billion in customer financing across African markets.
This enables millions of users to access electricity who would otherwise remain off-grid. Today, Sun King is active in 11 African countries, positioning it among the continent’s largest off-grid solar providers.
In operational terms, the company’s growth has been rapid and measurable. Monthly solar kit deliveries have increased more than thirty-fold in seven years, rising from 10,000 units in 2017 to over 330,000 units per month.
This scale places Sun King at the centre of Africa’s decentralised energy ecosystem, a sector increasingly seen as critical to closing the continent’s electricity access gap, where hundreds of millions of people still lack reliable power.
Plans for the New $40 Million Funding
The newly secured $40 million investment from Lightrock will be channelled toward three core priorities, product expansion, technology advancement, and capacity scaling.
Sun King plans to broaden its product range by leveraging recent advances in solar technology, control electronics, and battery science, improving system efficiency, durability, and performance.
Crucially, the funding will support the company’s long-term deployment target of 3.8 GW of decentralised solar capacity by 2030, a level of generation that would significantly boost clean energy supply in off-grid and weak-grid regions.
According to Walsh, the company aims to scale its operations even further, stating: “We are working to expand to one million solar kits each month by 2030 to meet the basic energy needs of, at least, 200 million people, and this investment is part of the overall financing required to reach that operational scale.”
What This Means for Kenya’s Energy Development
For Kenya, Sun King’s latest funding round reinforces the country’s position as a regional hub for clean energy innovation and off-grid solar solutions.
As the company’s headquarters, Kenya stands to benefit from expanded operations, technology development, and employment opportunities linked to Sun King’s growth.
More broadly, the investment highlights the critical role of private capital in advancing Kenya’s energy transition, particularly in reaching rural and peri-urban populations that remain underserved by the national grid.
By scaling decentralised solar systems, Sun King contributes directly to Kenya’s goals of increasing renewable energy adoption, reducing carbon emissions, and improving energy security.
The company’s PAYG model also aligns with inclusive development objectives, ensuring that clean energy access is not limited by high upfront costs.
As Kenya continues to position itself as a clean energy leader in Africa, investments such as this underscore how homegrown and regional companies can attract global capital while delivering tangible social and economic impact.
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