The Sun Exchange equity crowdfunding campaign has officially come to a close with over ZAR 4.2 million raised from over 200 investors from across the globe.
“We are delighted to report that over ZAR 4.2 million was invested by 288 individuals from across the world,” announced the firm. “We’re thrilled that this community of new investors will be joining Sun Exchange on our mission to connect the world to the sun, bringing affordable and clean energy to emerging markets.”
The Sun Exchange says investments were made by individuals from the United Kingdom, Nigeria, Germany, many parts of Europe, Kenya, Australia and even Brazil with South Africans investing over ZAR 2.5 million, 59% of the total raised, and representing 70% of all investors.
“The largest investments were made by a Norwegian and two South Africans, with a total of ZAR 835,000 invested between them,” said the firm.
The Uprise.Africa campaign formed part of the firm’s seed funding round and to date, the firm has raised over US$ 1 million which includes a US$ 500,000 (about ZAR 7 million) seed investment by Alphabit, a multi-million-dollar hedge fund.
While we did not achieve the ZAR 7 million goal set for the Uprise.Africa campaign, the fact that the campaign quickly reached the ZAR 3 million success milestone, signalled significant appetite from individual investors to own equity in Sun Exchange.
Sun Exchange extended the campaign for another month, and raised nearly ZAR 1 million more in just 30 days.
Founded in 2015, The Sun Exchange, has more than 8,000 Sun Exchange members across the world. The firm has brought solar power to 13 South African schools, businesses and organisations, offsetting 1,500 tonnes of carbon per year, and growing.
The firm believes that this new phase gives its customers, solar cell purchasers, and supporters to bring solar power to millions of homes and offices globally. This was why the firm launched the crowdfunding campaign to raise R7 million (approx. US $460,000) for approximately 5.2% equity stake.
