SunCulture secures $12 million to effectively expand solar irrigation solutions across sub-Saharan Africa. Kenyan startup SunCulture got $12 million to make better solar irrigation for farmers in Africa.
They want to help lots of small farmers by 2030 with solar-powered irrigation that uses smart technology.
SunCulture Secures $12 Million
A big investment of $12 million came from InfraCo Africa, a part of PIDG, and Savant Group Ltd., which is great news for SunCulture. Other big names like Acumen Funds, Reed Hastings from Netflix, and Eric Schmidt from Google also joined in with their money. This investment is part of SunCulture’s Series B fundraising, which aims to gather $27.5 million.
The money from Series B includes different kinds of funding like equity, debt, grants, and carbon financing. With this new injection of funds, SunCulture has now raised a total of $65 million since it started.
This is helping them get closer to their big goal of raising $219 million. With that money, they plan to set up 274,000 solar irrigation systems all over Kenya.
SunCulture CEO, Samir Ibrahim, stated, “We are excited to collaborate with our investors as we work towards our shared goals.”
SunCulture is All About Helping Farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa
SunCulture is all about helping farmers in sub-Saharan Africa boost their productivity. Many farmers in this region rely on rainfall or use expensive and polluting fuel-powered pumps for irrigation.
To tackle these challenges, SunCulture provides farmers with a sustainable solution: small solar-powered water pumps. These pumps are designed for small-scale farms, typically between 1 to 3 acres in size, and can pump up to 1,200 liters of water per hour.
What’s great is that SunCulture subsidizes the cost of these pumps by selling carbon credits, making them up to half the price of fuel-based pumps.
How SunCulture Business Model Works
Operating in Kenya, Uganda, and Ivory Coast, with distribution agreements in Ethiopia, Zambia, and Togo, SunCulture follows a “Pay-As-You-Grow” model. This means farmers can gradually pay for the equipment as they see their farms thrive.
It’s essential because out of the 700 million Africans who depend on small-scale farming, only about 4% have access to irrigation. This heavy reliance on rainfed agriculture limits production and makes farmers vulnerable to the weather’s unpredictability.
SunCulture’s solution aims to change that narrative, empowering farmers to grow their crops more efficiently and sustainably.
SunCulture Has Sold 47,000 Solar-Powered Irrigation Units
“Irrigation is just like old, very unsexy technology, but it could increase your yields by up to five times,” Ibrahim stated.
SunCulture has already sold 47,000 solar-powered irrigation units. Now, they’re planning to offer more services to farmers, like soil tests and insurance.
MORE RELATED POSTS
