Sun King Zambia Secures $5M Acumen Investment for Solar Expansion

T. Patrick Walsh, Sun King Co-Founder & CEO

Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach Catalyze initiative has injected a $5 million equity investment into Sun King’s Zambia subsidiary.

The capital is engineered to fund a nationwide expansion of off-grid solar infrastructure via Sun King’s PayGo model, targeting up to 5.6 million users over five years.

Critically, the equity serves as a derisking wedge designed explicitly to unlock local-currency debt from Zambian financial institutions.

Acumen Invests $5M in Sun King Zambia to Expand Energy Access

Acumen’s Hardest-to-Reach (H2R) Catalyze initiative has invested $5 million in equity in Sun King’s Zambia subsidiary, supporting the solar energy company’s expansion in Zambia while helping unlock additional local currency financing.

According to Acumen, the investment is expected to help electrify nearly 5.6 million people over the next five years, including up to 4.5 million people in Zambia who could gain access to electricity for the first time.

The deal marks Acumen’s first equity investment in one of Sun King’s country-level businesses and is designed to combine direct growth capital with additional financing from local financial institutions.

How will Acumen’s $5M investment expand electricity access in Zambia?

The $5 million equity investment will support Sun King’s nationwide expansion in Zambia, where electricity access remains limited, particularly in rural communities.

Acumen identifies Zambia as a priority market under its Hardest-to-Reach Initiative, which targets communities where conventional infrastructure and financing models have struggled to deliver essential services.

The investment has two intended effects:

• Expand Sun King’s solar distribution network across Zambia.

• Unlock local currency debt from financial institutions, allowing additional capital to support the company’s growth.

Acumen expects the combined financing effect to extend the impact of its initial $5 million investment, rather than relying solely on equity capital to fund Sun King’s expansion.

Why is Zambia an important market for Sun King’s solar expansion?

Zambia has significant unmet demand for reliable and affordable electricity. About half of the country’s population currently has access to electricity, with access substantially lower in rural areas.

The country’s reliance on hydropower has also created additional pressure on the electricity system. Severe droughts in recent years have reduced hydropower generation, affecting a power system in which hydropower supplies the majority of Zambia’s electricity.

This combination of limited grid access and pressure on existing generation capacity creates an opportunity for decentralized solar solutions to reach households and businesses outside the traditional electricity network.

Sun King says its experience since entering Zambia has confirmed strong demand for affordable solar energy in communities that remain beyond the reach of the grid.

What does Sun King provide to households and businesses?

Sun King designs, finances, distributes, installs, and services solar energy systems for households and businesses with limited or no access to electricity.

Its product range extends from basic solar systems to larger installations capable of supporting commercial and public facilities.

Sun King’s solutions include:

• Entry-level solar kits for lighting and mobile-phone charging.

• Solar home systems for households with limited grid access.

• Multi-kilowatt solar inverter systems for larger homes and businesses.

• Systems designed to support schools and public health centers.

• PayGo financing, allowing customers to repay systems over 12 to 24 months.

• Mobile-money repayment options on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, with payments starting from $0.26 per day.

The PayGo model is particularly relevant in markets where customers may not be able to afford the upfront cost of a complete solar system.

How does Sun King’s PayGo model support energy access?

Rather than requiring customers to pay the full cost of a solar system upfront, Sun King allows customers to purchase systems through installment-based financing.

Under the company’s PayGo model, customers can repay their systems over 12–24 months, using mobile money for daily, weekly, or monthly payments.

With payments starting at $0.26 per day, the model is designed to reduce the upfront financial barrier to solar adoption.

For communities with limited grid access, this financing structure can make distributed solar systems more accessible while allowing Sun King to build a recurring customer-financing model.

What did Sun King say about the Zambia investment?

Krishna Swaroop, Chief Financial Officer at Sun King, said the company had identified substantial demand for reliable and affordable solar energy since launching in Zambia.

Swaroop said Acumen’s investment would provide additional capital for Sun King’s nationwide rollout and described the transaction as Acumen’s first equity investment in one of Sun King’s country-level businesses.

The investment therefore provides Sun King with both growth capital and a new financing partnership as it expands its presence in Zambia.

How will the investment unlock local currency financing?

A central objective of Acumen’s investment is to use equity capital to help Sun King access local currency debt from financial institutions in Zambia.

Sandra Halilovic, Head of H2R Catalyze at Acumen, said the investment was structured to accelerate Sun King’s expansion while “crowding in” additional local financing.

The mechanism is straightforward:

Financing mechanism	Role in Sun King’s Zambia expansion
$5M Acumen equity investment	Provides growth capital to Sun King Zambia
Local currency debt	Enables additional financing from local financial institutions
Sun King’s PayGo model	Allows customers to repay solar systems over 12–24 months
Solar distribution and installation	Extends electricity access beyond conventional grid infrastructure
Five-year expansion target	Nearly 5.6M people expected to gain electricity access

This approach allows Acumen to potentially amplify the impact of its $5 million equity investment by helping attract additional capital into the business.

How many people could gain electricity access through the investment?

Acumen expects Sun King’s Zambia expansion to help provide electricity access to nearly 5.6 million people over five years.

Of that total, up to 4.5 million people in Zambia could gain access to electricity for the first time, according to Acumen.

These figures are forward-looking targets rather than achieved outcomes. Their realization will depend on Sun King’s ability to scale its distribution network, customer financing, installations, and access to additional local currency capital during the five-year period.

What does the Sun King investment mean for Zambia’s energy access gap?

The investment reflects a broader shift toward combining distributed renewable energy with alternative financing mechanisms to reach communities underserved by traditional power infrastructure.

For Zambia, the model addresses two related challenges: limited electricity access and pressure on a power system heavily dependent on hydropower.

For Sun King, the $5 million investment provides additional capital to expand in a market where the company says it has already identified significant demand.

For Acumen, the transaction illustrates the H2R Catalyze model of using equity investment to help mobilize further financing and expand the reach of essential services.

If the planned 5.6 million-person five-year impact target is achieved, the Zambia investment would represent a significant expansion of decentralized electricity access, while the potential 4.5 million first-time connections highlight the scale of the country's remaining energy access challenge.