The company raised $15m in Series D equity from KawiSafi Ventures Fund, Energy Access Ventures, Omidyar Network and NewQuest Capital Partners.
Debt funding of $2.5m was also raised through SunFunder. The round also included over $5m in grant funding from Shell Foundation, the U.S. Agency for International Development – Development Innovation Ventures (USAID-DIV) and United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
In conjunction with the funding, Dr. Michael H. Gera, Managing Partner of Energy Access Ventures, will be joining the d.light board.
The company intends to use the funds to grow its PayGo business globally, ramp up sales for its D30 solar home system, as well as bring new products to market that can power other appliances, like TVs and fans.
Founded in 2006 as a for-profit social enterprise and led by CEO Ned Tozun, d.light manufactures and distributes 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, the company has impacted over 65 million lives with its products with the goal of reaching 100m people by 2020.
d.light has offices in San Francisco, CA, Shenzhen, China, Gurgaon, India, and Nairobi, Kenya.
FinSMEs
21/09/2016