Solar Leasing Startup Sun Exchange Secures $3 Million Funding, Set to Expand across Africa

South Africa based solar leasing startup; Sun Exchange has secured $3 million funding. This closes its Series A funding round at $4 million contributed by the ARCH Emerging Markets Partners.

Sun Exchange is peer-to-peer cryptocurrency enabled business that allows clients to invest in solar infrastructure. Abe Cambridge co-founded the company in 2015 to provide renewable solar energy infrastructure in Africa.

The infrastructure is then leased to a third-party for years, and the investors earn dividends overtime. Sun Exchange’s platform meters the electricity production tied to the consumer. It sends the electricity charges to the investor’s wallet via South African Rand or Bitcoin.

There is a need for renewable sources of energy due to the inefficient electricity supply chain in Africa, but there are few players in this niche. M-Kopa is dominant in East Africa, where it sells and installs solar hardware for off-grid households. In Nigeria, Rensource focuses on building solar-powered micro utilities for commercial purposes.

Rather than just selling the hardware, Sun Exchange operates an asset-free model, completely without the help of a middle-man. “We’re the marketplace that connects the user to the owner, to the installer of the solar panel,” says Abe Cambridge.

It generates revenue by earning margins on sales of solar panels and charges per kilowatts of electricity generated for the consumer. Through its Blockchain technology, several can invest from outside South Africa. The solar cells are sold for an average cost of $5 per cell.