SunFi aims to be the fastest way for Nigerians to find, finance and manage solar
Summary
SunFi, the Nigerian clean tech startup that connects people and businesses who want solar energy access to payment plans that match their needs, has raised $2.325 million in seed funding.The self-described energy financial tech platform received backing from lead investors Nairobi-based Factor[e] and SCM Capital Asset Management and participating investors such as Voltron Capital, Norrsken Impact Accelerator, Ventures Platform and Sovereign Capital.On a call with TechCrunch, CEO Rotimi Thomas said the investment will help SunFi grow its operations and improve its capabilities to recommend the best systems at the lowest cost to customers.SunFi isnt Thomas first rodeo at the helm of an energy startup. Turning to off-grid solutions that use solar energy is an option for these people who need electricity for simple necessities like lighting, heating and communication. Because of that, we went to the banks and tried to work with them to finance this kind of payment, but we realized that banks also had a problem: they couldnt dash out credit to customers to finance retail solar systems when they didnt understand the technical risks involved in owning them.Further market research revealed that other solar providers faced the same issue of customers requesting to pay in installments. Thomas and his co-founders COO Tomiwa Igun and CTO Olaoluwa Faniyi decided to provide credit and began leasing these systems in what later became SunFi. Since its official launch last February, SunFi has onboarded over 40 solar system vendors to its platform at various stages of vetting; 10 are its core providers, which have served more than 129 customers.