Energy · Profile from Energy Research Companion
M-KOPA
The Nairobi company that put solar home systems on credit over Safaricom's M-PESA mobile-money network. Founded in 2011 by Jesse Moore, Nick Hughes and Chad Larson, it launched its first kit commercially in Kenya in 2012 (reported): a small panel, a few LED lights, phone charging and a radio, paid for with a deposit and a daily mobile-money instalment. If the payments stopped, the kit switched itself off. Fifteen years later M-KOPA calls itself a "fintech platform for the everyday earner". Most of its revenue now comes from smartphones financed on the same lock-and-pay model, plus cash loans, health insurance and electric motorbikes; solar is a minority line (reported). It says it has served ~10 million cumulative customers (company, Jul 2026). UK filings show its first annual profit, ~KES 1.2bn (~$9.2m), on revenue of ~KES 53.7bn (~$416m) in 2024, after a ~KES 3.2bn (~$24.7m) loss in 2023 (reported, Oct 2025), and the company said 2025 revenue was ~$600m, up ~45%, and that it stayed profitable (company, Oct 2026). M-KOPA is the clearest case in this book of what section 24 says about off-grid solar: energy access, when it works, is a consumer-credit business.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2011, Nairobi, Kenya, by Jesse Moore (CEO), Nick Hughes (who had led the creation of M-PESA at Vodafone) and Chad Larson (reported); commercial launch with Safaricom in 2012 (reported, verify month)
- Headquarters
- Nairobi (operations); holding company registered in the UK, whose filings are the source of audited annual figures (reported)
- Ownership / structure
- Private, venture- and strategic-backed. Equity investors reported over the years include Generation Investment Management (London and New York, co-founded by former US vice-president Al Gore), Sumitomo Corporation, Mitsui, LGT Lightrock, Blue Haven Initiative (US family office), LocalGlobe, British International Investment (formerly CDC) and others (reported; verify current cap table)
- Leadership (2026)
- Jesse Moore (co-founder and CEO) (company)
- Segment
- Off-grid energy access and consumer device finance: solar home systems, smartphones, electric motorbikes, cash loans, health cover
- Markets (2026)
- Kenya (largest), Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa (reported). Tanzania was entered and later exited (reported, verify dates)
- Scale
- ~10m cumulative customers (company, Jul 2026; ~1m by ~2020, ~3m by May 2023, company); ~10,000 new customers a day (company, Oct 2026); "over $1bn of credit" deployed by May 2023 (company)
- Financials
- 2023 loss ~KES 3.2bn (~$24.7m); 2024 profit ~KES 1.2bn (~$9.2m) on revenue ~KES 53.7bn (~$416m, +66%) (UK filings, reported Oct 2025); 2025 revenue ~$600m (+~45%), "profitable" (company, Oct 2026); one analysis of the 2025 accounts gives net profit ~$4.8m and a restated 2024 loss ~$21.2m (Launch Base Africa, Oct 2026, single source, verify)
- Capital
- ~$250m raise (May 2023): >$200m sustainability-linked debt arranged by Standard Bank plus ~$55m equity led by Sumitomo (~$36.5m) (company, reported); ~$75m growth equity (Mar 2022, reported); DFC (US International Development Finance Corporation) loan of ~$51m to M-KOPA Kenya approved (2024 record) within a receivables programme of up to ~$210m (DFC disclosure, reported)
- Signature moves (incl. failures)
- Founding on M-PESA (2011–12); local-bank debt syndicate (2016); regional expansion and the Tanzania exit (2015–19, failure); the smartphone pivot (2019); Nigeria and South Africa (2020–23); the $250m raise (2023); DFC and IFC receivables debt (2022–24); e-mobility (2022–26); first profit and the credit-quality question (2024–26)
9 strategic moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2011
Founding and Solar on M PESA
Founding / business-model bet
2016
Local Currency Bank Syndicate
Financing (receivables-backed working-capital debt, partly in local currency)
2017
Regional Expansion and the Tanzania Exit
Market expansion / market exit (failure)
2019
Smartphone Device Finance Pivot
Strategy pivot (new product line)
2021
Nigeria and South Africa Entry
Market expansion
2022
E Mobility Motorbike Finance
Product / technology bet (financing electric motorbikes)
2023
250m Debt and Equity Raise
Financing (equity plus sustainability-linked debt)
2024
DFC and IFC Receivables Debt
Financing (development-finance receivables loans)
2025
First Profit and the Credit Quality Question
Results / strategy (the profitability claim, and the risk behind it)