Things are looking bright for East Africa this season. At least that’s the case for the solar as a service startup Off Grid Electric and its customers.

Tanzanian-based solar company Off Grid Electric has raised a massive US$16-million (about R184-million) lead by the US alternative energy giant and NASDAQ-listed, SolarCity, the UK’s Zouk Capital as well as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital.

The investment comes after it raised US$7-million (roughly R80-million) in March this year.

Similar to the mobile airtime model, the startup introduces a pre-paid solar power system that asks the home-owner to top-up whenever the user runs out of electricity.

CEO and co-founder Xavier Helgesen tells TechCrunch that Off Grid is a pioneer of micro-solar leasing. “Pre-paid mobile is what really unlocked the mobile phone market in Africa. Now it’s the beginning of the era of pre-paid solar,“ he says.

However true the above statement may be, it’s not operating as a monopoly at all. In the East African space there are MobiSol, SolarNow as well as M-KOPA from Kenya which raised US$20-million in February.

Things are looking bright for East Africa this season. At least that’s the case for the solar as a service startup Off Grid Electric and its customers.Tanzanian-based solar company Off Grid Electric has raised a massive US$16-million (about R184-million) lead by the US alternative energy giant and NASDAQ-listed, SolarCity, the UK’s Zouk Capital as well as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital.The investment comes after it raised US$7-million (roughly R80-million) in March this year.Similar to the mobile airtime model, the startup introduces a pre-paid solar power system that asks the home-owner to top-up whenever the user runs out of electricity.

CEO and co-founder Xavier Helgesen tells TechCrunch that Off Grid is a pioneer of micro-solar leasing. “Pre-paid mobile is what really unlocked the mobile phone market in Africa. Now it’s the beginning of the era of pre-paid solar,“ he says.However true the above statement may be, it’s not operating as a monopoly at all. In the East African space there are MobiSol, SolarNow as well as M-KOPA from Kenya which raised US$20-million in February.

Things are looking bright for East Africa this season. At least that’s the case for the solar as a service startup Off Grid Electric and its customers.

Tanzanian-based solar company Off Grid Electric has raised a massive US$16-million (about R184-million) lead by the US alternative energy giant and NASDAQ-listed, SolarCity, the UK’s Zouk Capital as well as Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s Vulcan Capital.

The investment comes after it raised US$7-million (roughly R80-million) in March this year.

Similar to the mobile airtime model, the startup introduces a pre-paid solar power system that asks the home-owner to top-up whenever the user runs out of electricity.

CEO and co-founder Xavier Helgesen tells TechCrunch that Off Grid is a pioneer of micro-solar leasing. “Pre-paid mobile is what really unlocked the mobile phone market in Africa. Now it’s the beginning of the era of pre-paid solar,“ he says.

However true the above statement may be, it’s not operating as a monopoly at all. In the East African space there are MobiSol, SolarNow as well as M-KOPA from Kenya which raised US$20-million in February.