I want to share with everyone that I recently decided to move on from SunFunder. I will miss the people I worked with but I am also very excited about what lies ahead for me and for SunFunder and I look forward to seeing its super talented team continue to kick ass.
I joined Ryan and Audrey in 2013 as the third co-founder at SunFunder, leading technology and systems. SunFunder has evolved a lot since then. We started as a crowdfunding platform making small investments in individual projects. Now, most of our fundraising is from accredited and institutional investors and our investments are into larger, structured loans. To date, we have made $12M in loans and helped bring electricity to more than 500,000 people living beyond the grid in Africa and India. We are now a team of 20 people spread across Tanzania, San Fransisco, DC and the Netherlands. We also hit some major milestones this year as a company: 1) we launched a $50M fund with a $15M initial investment from OPIC , 2) we launched SAFI, our Structured Asset Finance Instrument, and 3) we closed a Series B equity round which gives us the resources needed to scale.
Earlier this year we took a step back to review the future roadmap of our technology systems as SunFunder enters its growth phase. Around the same time I became aware that I was at a point in my life where I was ready to go back to learning and exploring and to start on something new. We decided that the timing was right for me to move on, especially as Dieter Van der Stock, who joined us last year, stepped up to lead the systems team going forward.
It has been a spectacular journey and we have come a long way together. My work has taken me to many interesting places around the world and helped me connect with the most amazing people doing the most inspiring things. I have had many experiences that, as I recall them, sound too unbelievable to be true. The exposure I have had has helped deepen my understanding of the world and the problems we face and I have also had a chance to learn effective ways to solve them. My time at SunFunder shaped me in ways for which I will always be grateful. And I hope I can continue to grow and find ways to bring positive change.
Storytelling is a big part of what we do at SunFunder and I personally took lots and lots of pictures and videos over the years. I dug through my archive to find some highlights. Instead of more text, I’ll let the pictures do the talking 😀
Solar Projects
These are some of the solar projects that we documented over the years. The aerial pictures were taken with SunFunder’s in-house drone, called Popo.
Highlights
These are some highlights of our time working together.
