SunFunder
VC Fund
Nairobi, Kenya
SunFunder is a solar energy finance business with a mission to provide financing for solar assets in emerging economies, including inventory, working capital, construction, and structured finance loans. The company offers borrowers deep solar market expertise, and efficient due diligence process, and strong customer partnerships, whilesimultaneously providing investors with diversified, high-impact, fixed income debt offerings of emerging market solar investments.SunFunder is a well-positioned financial intermediary that has been operating since 2012.
- Total investments:
- 23
- Last investment:
- Lead investor:
- 48%
- Fund size:
- $60M
- Last fund:
Last updated:
For AI agents: llms.txt
Industries SunFunder invests in
Stages SunFunder invests in
Countries SunFunder invests in
Round sizes
Contacts
| Name | Phone | Socials | |
|---|---|---|---|
Round size
- Series C
- $20M–$60M
- Debt Financing
- $1.5M–$50M
Investment Focus
Industry
- Solar 9 (39%)
- Energy 9 (39%)
- Renewable Energy 7 (30%)
- Financial Services 3 (13%)
- FinTech 2 (9%)
Stage
- Debt Financing 15 (65%)
- Series C 2 (9%)
Country
- Kenya 3 (13%)
- Mauritius 3 (13%)
- United States 3 (13%)
- The Netherlands 3 (13%)
- United Kingdom 2 (9%)
Team
| Name | Title | Investments | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Audrey Desiderato
Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer
|
Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Avi Jacobson
Investment Director
|
Investment Director | Total investments: 1 | Find email | |
Nico Tyabji
Head of Strategic Partnerships
|
Head of Strategic Partnerships | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Sanjeev Debipersad
Head of Risk
|
Head of Risk | Total investments: 0 | Find email | |
Collins Kuindwa
Investment Officer
|
Investment Officer | Total investments: 2 | Find email | |
| See all 9 team members → | ||||
Investments
| Company | Description | Round | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
M-KOPA
|
M-KOPA provides connected asset financing solutions for underbanked customers. Its platform combines digital micropayments and IoT connectivity to offer access to products including solar lighting, televisions, fridges, smartphones, financial services, and more. | $200M / Debt Financing / May 15, 2023 | |
Energy Vision
|
Energy Vision is a telecom-focused energy service company. They provide environmentally friendly options to cellular operators and telecom tower firms for powering telecom equipment where the electric grid is either nonexistent or only partial and unreliable. This includes all related services such as engineering, implementation, NOC, operation andmaintenance, upgrades, and expansions. | $15M / Debt Financing / Mar 01, 2023 | |
BioLite
|
BioLite is a dynamic, rapidly growing, and profitable social enterprise that develops, manufactures and markets consumer energy products for off-grid communities around the world. Over the last three years, our team has tripled, and sales have doubled each year. Their business serves two distinct markets: 1) developing world families living inenergy poverty, and 2) outdoor enthusiasts seeking fuel-independent cooking and power. They address these markets simultaneously through parallel innovation: by incubating core technologies that can serve users in both markets, they are able to re-invest near-term revenue to solve long-term, high-impact problems.Developing World:Half the planet still cooks on indoor open wood fires and the toxic smoke they emit kills nearly 4 million people every year, twice as many as malaria. BioLite has developed an advanced, affordable, clean- burning stove that combines unprecedented emissions reductions with economically valuable electricity generation. The HomeStove™ is capable of reducing indoor smoke by more than 90% while cutting fuel use in half. By providing their largely off-grid customers with the ability to charge cell phones and LED lights, our stoves create economic incentive for purchase and continued use, ensuring sustainable delivery of their health and environmental benefits. | $5.3M / Debt Financing / Nov 21, 2022 | |
d.light
|
Founded in 2007 as a for-profit social enterprise, d.light manufactures and distributes award-winning solar lighting and power products designed to serve the more than 2 billion people globally without access to reliable electricity. Through five distribution hubs in East Africa, West Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and the United States, d.lighthas impacted over 65 million lives with its products. d.light is dedicated to providing the most reliable, affordable, and accessible solar lighting and power systems for the developing world, with the goal of reaching 100 million people by 2020. For more information, visit www.dlight.com. | $50M / Debt Financing / Jul 21, 2022 | |
Yellow
|
Yellow is an Africa-focused fintech. | $4M / Debt Financing / Oct 01, 2021 | |
Zola Electric
|
ZOLA Electric designs renewable energy solutions based on the latest in solar, battery and power electronics technology. Adaptable to energy need and income, ZOLA Electric’s solar systems can be bought over time using PAYGo micro-finance leasing and mobile money payments. ZOLA Electric powers more than 180,000 homes and businesses across Tanzania,Rwanda, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana. Investors include Tesla, Vulcan Capital, DBL Partners, Helios Investment Partners, EDF, Total and GE Ventures. ZOLA Electric is a recipient of the UN Momentum for Change Award, the Zayed Future Energy Prize and is a member of the Global Cleantech 100. | $45M / Debt Financing / Sep 23, 2021 | |
Winch Energy
|
Winch Energy provides off-grid, renewable energy solutions. They offer to meet national-scale rural electrification objectives in a rapid, modular, and efficient manner. | $2M / Debt Financing / Mar 08, 2021 | |
SunCulture
|
SunCulture is a company based in Nairobi, Kenya which sells the AgroSolar Irrigation Kit, an entirely solar-powered drip irrigation system. The kit combines solar water pumping technology with high-efficiency drip irrigation and includes everything a farmer needs to grow more while spending less, in a sustainable and energy-efficient way.SunCulture has developed a novel and unique product that simplifies farming and increases crop yields. They are also the only "one-stop shop" for Kenyan farmers, as they provide a solar water pumping solution, an entire drip irrigation kit, agronomic services, educational training, access to capital and access to markets in rural Kenya —Â their approach focuses on quality of both product and services. | $11M / Debt Financing / Feb 17, 2021 | |
Daystar Power
|
Daystar Power specialises in providing solar power and energy efficiency solutions for businesses in the commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors that result in significant reduction of power costs, diesel consumption and pollution. | $4M / Debt Financing / Feb 07, 2020 | |
|
d.light
|
Founded in 2007 as a for-profit social enterprise, d.light manufactures and distributes award-winning solar lighting and power products designed to serve the more than 2 billion people globally without access to reliable electricity. Through five distribution hubs in East Africa, West Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and the United States, d.lighthas impacted over 65 million lives with its products. d.light is dedicated to providing the most reliable, affordable, and accessible solar lighting and power systems for the developing world, with the goal of reaching 100 million people by 2020. For more information, visit www.dlight.com. | $18M / Debt Financing / Jul 01, 2019 | |
| See all 23 investments → | |||
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FAQ
What does SunFunder invest in?
SunFunder invests primarily in Solar, Energy and Renewable Energy startups, most often at Debt Financing and Series C stage. Most of the 23 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Kenya. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.
What is SunFunder's check size?
SunFunder typically joins rounds of $20M–$60M at Series C and $1.5M–$50M at Debt Financing. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds SunFunder participates in.
How do I contact SunFunder?
Public channels for SunFunder include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.
Who are the partners at SunFunder?
The team at SunFunder includes Audrey Desiderato (Co-Founder & Chief Commercial Officer), Avi Jacobson (Investment Director) and Nico Tyabji (Head of Strategic Partnerships), among 9 team members tracked by Shizune. The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.
Is Shizune's investor data accurate?
Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.
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