In a bid to connect people and businesses who want solar energy access to payment plans that match their needs, Sunfi, a Nigerian energy fintech startup has raised $2.325 million in seed funding.
According to a statement seen by BusinessDay, the investment round was led by Nairobi-based Factor[e] and Sterling Bank’s SCM Capital Asset Management. Other participants included Voltron Capital, Norrsken Impact Accelerator, Ventures Platform, and Sovereign Capital.
Speaking on the reason for the investment, one of the lead investors, Lyndsay Holley-Handler, partner and chief venture builder at Factor[e], said SunFi has the ability to transform the way clean energy is accessed by households and businesses across Nigeria by creating a marketplace of clean energy products combined with flexible payment options — all of which are personalized to the customer’s financial and energy needs.
Rotimi Thomas, Sunfi ‘s CEO said the new funding will help the startup expand its operations and enhance its capacity to advise clients on the best systems to purchase at the most affordable prices.
“The challenge customers face with solar providers is that they want solutions they can pay small for; however, these solar platforms can’t offer. Because banks are afraid of the technical risk involved, they need something in between to talk with good solar providers and do the installation work while providing good capital to customers looking for the right solution. We’re the guys in the middle of all this,” Thomas said.
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The Nigeria-based energy company, which is built as a fintech for the cleantech space, provides customers with two payment options; a lease to own, i.e. after an initial deposit, customers can make payments in installments before owing the solar system, and a subscription model, i.e. where customers pay to use the solar system monthly.
To help solar providers better manage their inventory, SunFi said it is working on a third revenue source. it currently provides them with a portal to track and manage portfolios or retail customers.
The start-up firm said it has onboarded over 40 solar system vendors to its platform at various stages of verification since its official launch last February; 10 are its key providers, having served more than 129 consumers.
With this funding, the cleantech company with fintech features will look to improve its platform over the next 12-18 months.
It also plans to convert over 4,000 users in the same specified timeframe as the 29-person team expands.
The clean tech is in discussions with commercial banks and other funding partners to acquire extra third-party funds, most likely debt, to channel through the system and finance all the energy platform’s demands for this year.
