Sun King Gets $10 Million Funding from Proparco to Expand its Solar Kit Business in Africa 

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Proparco, the subsidiary of the French Development Agency (AFD) group, has subscribed to a $10 million green bond which will be lent to Sun King, a solar kit provider in sub-Saharan Africa.

The green bond is issued by the Swiss impact investor Symbiotics Group through its MSMR Bonds platform. This platform has already enabled the issuance of 309 bonds for a total of $2.67 billion.

The recent investment will support the expansion of Sun King’s activities in Africa. The Chicago-based company distributes and installs solar home systems (SHS), solar lanterns, and other solar-powered kits.

Sun King has already distributed 80 million of its solar kits to the customers worldwide by leveraging pay-as-you-go system. According to the company, its solar kits have already replaced 7.3 million kerosene lanterns in Africa, avoiding 22.9 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions.

Krishna Swaroop, Sun King’s Global Chief Financial Officer, said the green bond will extend affordable off-grid solar financing to underserved rural communities across Africa and help them to electrify their homes and turn off the kerosene lamps. 

Françoise Lombard, Proparco’s Director-General, said, the partners will work effectively to increase clean energy access in Africa. They must increase the commitments in emerging markets to ensure access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy for all by 2030. This investment is fully in line with the strategic priorities and climate mandate of Proparco.

Yvan Renaud, CEO of Symbiotics Investments, commented, ”Symbiotics has been an early supporter of access to clean energy and a historical partner to GreenLight Planet (now Sun King). The investment in this bond is a great encouragement for us to pursue with our engagement to offer sound green bond opportunities to institutional and private investors.”