Beacon VC Joins SUN Group in Series A Investment in ION Energy

Beacon Venture Capital (Beacon VC), the corporate venture capital arm of Kasikornbank, has partnered with Solar United Network Group (SUN Group), a leading Asia-Pacific solar energy company based in Indonesia, to close a Series A funding round of USD $3 million for ION Energy Company Limited (ION), a Thai solar energy startup. This investment aims to further propel ION's success in providing clean and affordable energy solutions to both Thai residential users and businesses, leveraging Kasikornbank's strong customer base.

Mr. Thanapong Na Ranong, Managing Director of Beacon VC, stated that since the establishment of Beacon Impact Fund in February 2023 to invest in sustainable startups with measurable positive impacts across various dimensions, ION Energy marks the first Thai startup to receive investment through Beacon Impact Fund. The investment aims to support ION in developing products and services to meet the needs of a wide range of customers, enabling residential users and SMEs to access solar energy systems at affordable prices with high standards of installation and services. This investment also offers an opportunity for Kasikornbank to leverage its financial product design expertise and extensive SME customer base in Thailand to further expand ION's services, including low-cost energy access, and easy installation and after-sales services through its mobile and online platform.

Beacon VC sees great potential in the technology being developed by ION in facilitating the transition to solar energy for both residential and business users, paving the way for a future solar energy ecosystem. ION's solutions include a Solar Monitoring & Payment Platform that allows businesses to track and monitor the performance of solar systems from various inverter manufacturers on a single platform, as well as to support for Private Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) billing and payment directly within the platform. Additionally, future development on Home Energy Management System helps residential users plan their monthly energy usage and displays real-time carbon emission reductions. In the future, through its platform, the company plans to enable peer-to-peer energy trading, to be pilot tested in industrial estates, and Renewable Energy Credit (REC) aggregation.

Thanapong emphasized, "Beacon Impact Fund seeks innovative businesses that generate positive environmental and social impacts, aligning with Kasikornbank's policy to foster balanced growth in environmental, social, and governance aspects and drive sustainable banking practices, while able to generate attractive financial returns for investors."

Peerakarn Manakit, CEO of ION Energy, revealed that with the increasing awareness of sustainable living and rising energy costs, there is a growing demand for solar energy solutions from all user segments. Hence, the Series A funding of $3 million from Beacon VC and SUN Group is crucial for ION to expand its business to support this growth. The funding raised will be invested in expanding our services and offerings across both of our business models:

1. Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) services: ION as "contractor" providing turnkey end-to-end design and engineering, procurement, installation, and maintenance of solar systems, including permit application, for households, real estate properties, and small-and-medium-sized businesses. With over 3,500 installations completed, the solar systems are estimated to reduce carbon emissions by over 10,800 tons per year.
2. Private Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs): ION as "investor" enabling businesses to install solar solutions by ION with no upfront cost. Businesses will purchase clean electricity from ION at prices 20-50% lower than conventional electricity from the grid, benefiting both SMEs and larger organizations.

Hendy Limadi Tohan, Director of SUN, noted that this investment indicates SUN's recognition of the potential for growth in the solar energy market in Thailand, with ION moving forward with plans to develop an end-to-end digital customer journey through a mobile application platform, allowing users to monitor and manage solar energy systems. "We are successfully operating residential and small to medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) solar projects in Indonesia. This success is also driven by our technology, which has played a key role in simplifying the journey for our potential and existing customers. We aim to implement this technological integration with ION, specifically the Thailand market," said Hendy. SUN Group also plans to build a comprehensive clean energy platform for Thailand residential market through a Joint Venture with ION. These efforts will align with ION's further business models as the funding raised will be invested to expand ION's services and offerings, such as Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) services with Private Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) model.