Okapi Technologies, a Malaysia-based climate fintech startup in the solar financing space, has announced the successful closing of an up to $2 million debt facility arranged by Aquila.
Okapi said in a statement on Wednesday that this funding will accelerate the firm’s mission to expand solar energy adoption for homeowners and small businesses in Malaysia and Southeast Asia through innovative financial solutions.
With electricity tariffs in the firm’s home market of Malaysia set to rise in the second half of the year, which together with the National Policy on Climate Change 2.0 highlights the government’s efforts to shift towards a more sustainable low-carbon economy.
With this financing round behind them, Okapi plans to double down on its growth initiatives in Malaysia to capture these tailwinds while establishing beachheads in new markets in the region.
“Despite significant cost reductions in small-scale solar installations over the past decade, high upfront investment requirements and supply chain inefficiencies still hinder
widespread adoption in Southeast Asia,
“Aquila’s strong collaboration and alignment with our vision will be invaluable as we continue to bridge the financing gap and accelerate the green transition in the region,” said Lai Zhern Yung, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Okapi.
According to the statement, Aquila’s partnership with Okapi reflects a shared commitment to revolutionizing sustainable finance in emerging markets through data-driven, technology-
enabled financial solutions.
This investment highlights Aquila’s confidence in Okapi Solar’s ability to address financing challenges for homeowners and small businesses across the region.
“Okapi’s business model—enabling engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors to offer a leasing model for solar installations—is fueling rapid growth,” said Stefano Pellegrino, Chief Executive Officer of Aquila.
“Since their expansion depends on their ability to finance EPCs, this partnership aligns perfectly with our financing strategy,
“Their focused approach to climate technology also enhances credit assessment efficiency, while API integration with solar installation data provides us with confidence in the value of deployed assets,” he added.
Okapi is a residential solar financing platform in Southeast Asia.
The firm has more than 200 solar power systems financed, 50 installer-partners in its network across Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia.
Its flagship residential solar leasing product, Okapi Solar, is transforming the solar market with its unique underwriting model and seamless point-of-sale mobile application.
By empowering solar installer-partners with the ability to offer zero upfront financing plans of up to ten years, the firm enables homeowners to access solar energy instantly with minimal financial barriers.
Additionally, Okapi recently introduced Okapi Flow, a supply chain financing solution that leverages proprietary data to provide procurement, logistics, and inventory financing for solar installer-partners.
This ensures that small businesses in the solar sector can grow faster and access financial products with greater ease and efficiency.
Aquila is an enabler of internet of things (IoT)-powered sustainable finance with operations across Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
The firm’s technology connects verifiers, borrowers, and banks to enable sustainable finance.
It reduces costs and risk of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) key performance indicators (KPIs) verification and monitoring by using real-time internet of things (IOT) data infrastructure.
Malaysian climate fintech startup Okapi Technologies raises funding from The Radical Fund