SmartSolar Zero-Capital Rooftop Solar for SMEs

SmartSolar is a rooftop solar startup based in Ho Chi Minh City, registered in May 2024 and led by founder and CEO Kevin Junker. It targets small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam, which typically spend a large share of operating costs on electricity but struggle to find capital for solar systems.

Under its solar-as-a-service model, SmartSolar designs, finances, installs, owns and maintains the rooftop system on the customer's building. The customer pays nothing upfront and buys the electricity used, with the grid covering nights and low-output periods. Customers include factories, auto workshops, gyms, showrooms, offices, co-working spaces and restaurant chains, such as a 730 kWp garment factory in Ho Chi Minh City and a 407 kWp food-processing plant in Da Lat.

• Zero capital: the customer pays nothing upfront for the rooftop system.
• Pay for power used: the customer buys the solar electricity consumed and shares in the savings.
• End-to-end delivery: SmartSolar designs, finances, installs and maintains the system.
• Grid backup: the grid supplies power at night and on low-output days.
• SME sizing: systems from small shops to factories of several hundred kWp.
• Multi-sector use: projects for factories, gyms, showrooms, offices and restaurant chains.

Small garment and food-processing workshops can cut daytime electricity costs without borrowing. Restaurant and gym chains can roll out solar across branches under one contract. Car showrooms and service centres with large roofs can lower operating costs and show a green image to customers.

SMEs install rooftop solar with zero upfront capital. The website states savings of up to 20% on the monthly electricity bill from the first day of operation, and press reports cite prices 15-25% below grid tariffs under long-term contracts. Design, financing, installation and maintenance are handled by SmartSolar.

Rooftop solar penetration in Southeast Asia remains low, and SMEs in Vietnam are largely left out of corporate solar deals that favour large factories. New rules for self-consumption rooftop solar and rising tariffs create demand for small-ticket, financed solar offers aimed at SMEs.

Registered in Ho Chi Minh City in May 2024; founder and CEO Kevin Junker. Raised a USD 1.85 million seed round in March 2025 led by Picus Capital, 2degrees and Iterative, then USD 1.3 million in debt in March 2026 from SKR Reisen and the SECO Startup Fund, for USD 3.15 million in total. Nearly 4 MWp deployed.