This company’s interesting business organization has allowed members to purchase solar cells in South Africa and profit from aiding these low-income communities in clean energy. There are currently 31 functioning projects in South Africa, and more on the way as this funding will be used to expand their platform, marketing, and website.
Sun Exchange has secured a total of $4 million after its most recent round of Series A funding. Africa Renewable Power Fund (ARPF) provided the additional $3 million in capital for this round in order to support SunExchange in the various renewable energy projects across Sub-Saharan Africa. ARPF is supported by their investing entity in London ARCH Emerging Markets Partners Ltd. This area is the current focus of SunExchange as they hope to continue solar expansion projects to power schools, clinics, farms, water plants, and more essential organizations across this region.
Sun Exchange allows members across the world to own solar producing energy cells and lease the produced power to businesses in emerging regions where energy is needed. This way of organizing energy ownership allows the members to profit, but also support areas that have difficulty producing energy due to low income. They develop projects once the solar has been sold to their members, basing this process on a crowd sale technique. Currently, they are planning a project for Norman Henshilwood High School at 53.60 kW in Cape Town, South Africa. The solar cells start at roughly $5 each, but all transactions occur in Bitcoin or South African Rand so that prices can be exact.
“You as an individual are selling electricity to a school in South Africa, via a solar panel you bought through the Sun Exchange. Our platform meters the electricity production of your solar panel. Arranges for the purchasing of that electricity with your chosen energy consumer, collects that money, and then returns it to your Sun Exchange wallet.â€
Abe Cambridge; Founder and CEO
In 2017 during Sun Exchange’s first round of funding after being founded in 2014, they raised $1.6 million in seed funding from a variety of US investors. Network Society Ventures, South Africa’s Kalon Venture Partners and technology supporters BoostVC, Techstars, and Powerhouse are among the leading investors for this original start-up capital.
Now they plan to use the most recent funding to expand their platform, offer additional finance solution options, build marketing efforts, and encourage an overall expansion of membership. This includes enhancing the software of their online platform to boost its capabilities to support the new features they wish to add. It is not clear any further specifics on these finance options or features but it seems that by making the service easier to understand and invest in for everyday people, it would add to their membership significantly.
Currently, Sun Exchange has 17,000 members from 162 countries who contribute to powering 31 projects in South Africa. The number of members was much lower and has doubled to get to this figure within the past year, while the portfolio has tripled. For this reason, they were named one of the “Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in Africaâ€, which could have peaked investor interest.
They have suggested many projects in Nigeria which are in the works, and there are no signs of stopping there. This is a unique opportunity for investors to expand their portfolio to a low-income region while still profiting. Although this company is involved in a worthy cause, they still produce an income which makes their platform so creative yet essential to this region. South Africa is in need of affordable energy and is an ideal location for solar power, making this an actionable opportunity now and in the foreseeable future.
