Greenlight Planet, a Chicago, IL-based company that distributes solar energy products for off-grid homes in the developing world, raised $10m in funding.
The round was led by Fidelity Growth Partners India. In conjunction with the funding, Kabir Narang, Managing Director of Fidelity Growth Partners India, joined Greenlight Planet’s Board of Directors.
Founded in 2007 by Anish Thakkar, CEO, Greenlight Planet has experienced growth in Sub-Saharan Africa and India, selling over 3 million rooftop solar lighting and phone charging devices. Its Sun King™ Pro products promise to provide ten times brighter light output than the typical kerosene lantern, charge mobile phones, and pay for themselves in less than nine months. The company recently launched the Sun King™ Home, which provides rooftop solar charging, overhead lighting fixtures for a three-room home and a centralized power station for mobile phones, and soon, additional household appliances.
Greenlight, which opened its first African office in 2012, has 6,000 village direct sales agents located across India, Kenya and Uganda and 680 full-time employees across 11 offices in the United States, Africa, India and China. It expects to reach 100 million off-grid households by 2020.
FinSMEs
05/02/2015