October 2017 – Sunna Design raises 7 million euros to deploy its industrial and commercial strategy

 Sunna Design announced today a €7 million fundraising which should enable it to deal successfully with new international markets by strengthening its commercial and industrial capacities.

Having developed pioneering technologies such as its range of smart solar street lights, Sunna Design has the means to pursue its development in the promising field of connected solar street lights for smart cities by launching a groundbreaking offer that combines energy and digital.

In addition to the new blue-chip investors such as BNP Paribas, Sunna Design received the continuous support of the historic shareholders who accompanied us during the previous round of € 5 million in December 2014. The participation of institutions and experts in the financing round validates Sunna’s strategy that is focused on synergies between solar power, LED, storage and digital embedded in quality products to meet the needs of sunny and emerging countries. With its maintenance-free solar street lights designed to last 10 years, Sunna Design is well placed for convincing local buyers who are now demanding and sensitive to the notions of climate resilience and lifespan.

For Pierre François, former CEO of Sicame Group and new investor “Sunna has developed a very coherent approach, by first positioning proprietary technologies, and by structuring strategic partnerships with industry leaders such as Schneider Electric and Thorn Lighting. Now the company is strengthening its industrial capabilities with a concept: the factory of the future, flexible and easy to set up as close as possible to targeted markets. I was taken by the Sunna teams’ agility and thorough understanding in the field.”

The fundraising will also allow to continue the development, under the Moon brand, of a new business providing access to energy and digital services for rural populations of Africa by allowing them to enter into a virtuous circle of cost savings and generation of income. Launched eighteen months ago, Moon has already proven its relevance in Senegal, where hundreds of customers already buy Moon kits composed of a solar system and a smartphone using the pay-as-you-go system. Sunna Design’s energy access business was partly funded by the crowdlending platform of Solylend, together with well-known donors such as the French Development Agency, the French Treasury through its FASEP tool, and most recently, USAID.