Why We Backed DECHANS: Solar in Africa Is a Trust Problem, Not a Panel Problem

Access to reliable electricity remains one of the biggest development challenges in the world, and a large share of the people without it live in sub-Saharan Africa. Even where grid connections exist, outages and high costs push many households, farms and businesses to look for alternatives.

Solar has become one of the clearest answers. Panel prices have fallen dramatically over the past decade, making systems far more affordable than they once were. 

What interested us about DECHANS is a question that comes after the price drop. If panels are cheaper than ever, why is solar still hard to get right?

We backed DECHANS through LvlUp Labs.

Why the Panel Is No Longer the Hard Part

For a customer in Kenya, buying a solar system involves several decisions that have little to do with the panel. How big should the system be? Which installer can be trusted to do it properly? How will it be paid for? Who fixes it when an inverter fails or a battery wears out?

These questions are where many solar projects go wrong. Poorly sized systems, low-quality components, installers who disappear and no plan for maintenance can leave customers with systems that underperform or stop working. Each bad experience makes the next customer more cautious.

The distinction matters because it moves the value. When hardware becomes a commodity, the value shifts to whoever can deliver a system that works and keeps working.

What DECHANS Does

DECHANS Solar & Electrical Solutions is a Kenyan, EPRA-licensed solar and electrical company based in Nairobi. It is building an AI-powered clean energy platform that helps homes, farms, businesses, schools and institutions access affordable solar systems.

The platform connects customers with trusted installers, suppliers, financing and maintenance in one place.

From One-Time Sale to Long-Term Relationship

DECHANS makes money in several ways: selling solar systems and electrical services, installation, maintenance and monitoring, subscriptions, and commissions from connecting customers with suppliers, installers and financing partners.

We think this mix is the core of the investment case. A business that only sells and installs hardware earns once per customer. A business that also monitors, maintains and finances those systems earns over the life of the system, often ten years or more.

The model becomes particularly interesting because those recurring services are also how trust is built. A customer whose system is monitored and maintained has a reason to stay, refer others and come back when they want to expand.

Why Kenya Is the Right Starting Point

Kenya has one of the most developed off-grid solar markets in Africa, along with widespread mobile money, which has made pay-as-you-go and financed solar more practical than in many other markets. Customers range from rural households to farms that need reliable power for irrigation and cold storage, to schools and businesses facing grid unreliability.

That gives DECHANS a large, varied customer base in its home market, and a strong position from which to expand to neighboring East African countries.

Early Signal

DECHANS was founded in 2022 and reports $50,000 in monthly recurring revenue. It has raised $300,000.

For a company at this stage, that level of recurring revenue suggests customers are not just buying once. They're staying.

What Has to Be True for This Model to Work

There is still plenty to prove.

Installer quality has to hold. A platform connecting customers with installers is only as trusted as its weakest installer.

Financing has to work at scale. Many customers need to pay over time. Managing credit risk with financing partners is critical.

Maintenance has to be profitable. Servicing systems across rural areas is operationally demanding.

Expansion is not automatic. Each new country brings different regulations, payment habits and supply chains.

What We Are Watching

We will be watching the share of revenue from recurring services like maintenance, monitoring and subscriptions. Customer retention and referrals. Installer performance across the network. Financing repayment rates through partners. And the first steps beyond Kenya.

Our View

We think the more important question in African solar is no longer whether systems are affordable. It's who customers trust to install them properly and keep them running.

DECHANS is building around that trust, with a model that keeps earning long after the install. That's why we backed them through LvlUp Labs.

Welcome to the LvlUp ecosystem, DECHANS.

Sources to pull:

• IEA: Africa Energy Outlook, or Tracking SDG7, for electricity access.
• IRENA: Renewable Power Generation Costs, for solar price declines.
• GOGLA: Off-Grid Solar Market Trends Report, for the Kenya context.
• EPRA (Kenya): licensing context.

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