Solar Freeze
Solar Freeze is a Kenyan agri-tech company that builds mobile, solar-powered cold-storage units and a Cold Storage-as-a-Service platform for rural smallholder farmers, accessed via mobile app or SMS/USSD and paid through M-Pesa.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersNairobi, Kenya
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Solar Freeze does
Solar Freeze is a Kenyan private company, headquartered in Nairobi, that builds post-harvest cold-chain solutions for rural smallholder farmers. Its core offering is a mobile, solar-powered cold-room unit using mechanical refrigeration designed for off-grid operation, targeting the 45%-80% post-harvest loss rates that prevail where conventional cold storage is unaffordable or unsupported by unreliable electricity. The company claims its solution reduces food loss by up to 90% and raises farmer incomes by around 70%.
Beyond the hardware, Solar Freeze operates an integrated four-product stack: the Mobile Solar Powered Cold Room; Cold-chain Distribution, Logistics & Refrigerated Transport via energy-efficient trucks; Cold Storage as a Service, an 'ubering' model accessed through a mobile app or SMS/USSD without requiring internet; and a Cold Storage Mobile App with IoT-based real-time monitoring. Revenues are intended to come from usage-based storage fees (paid via M-Pesa mobile money), hardware sales or leasing of the cold-room units, refrigerated-transport transaction fees, and recurring IoT/subscription services. Customer segments span rural smallholder farmers (primary), women and youth farmers, smallholder traders, and bottom-of-the-pyramid urban consumers. Disclosed external capital is limited to a single $20,000 Green Skills Innovation Challenge award (2021) plus non-cash accelerator placements with Food Africa (2020), Milken-Motsepe (2023), and Qualcomm Make in Africa (2025); no revenue or ARR is disclosed.
Solar Freeze firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Solar Freeze
- Legal name
- Solar Freeze
- Website
- https://solarfreeze.co.ke
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Solar Freeze is a Kenyan agri-tech company that builds mobile, solar-powered cold-storage units and a Cold Storage-as-a-Service platform for rural smallholder farmers, accessed via mobile app or SMS/USSD and paid through M-Pesa.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Solar Freeze industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Cold Chain Logistics
- NAICS
- Refrigerated Warehousing and Storage (493120)
- SIC
- Public Warehousing & Storage (4220)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Frozen Food Cold Storage (TLALABAB)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Temperature-Controlled Cross-Dock / Blast Freezing & Tempering Facilities (TLALACAI), Frozen Food Warehousing & Blast Freezing (AFAOAFAC)
Keywords
Where Solar Freeze is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Nairobi
- HQ country
- Kenya
- HQ region
- Africa
Offices1 record
Markets served
Solar Freeze business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Supply Chain, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Personnel, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Cold Storage as a Service: Smallholder farmers and traders access cold storage through mobile money (M-Pesa) and cash payments via an app and SMS service. Farmers find nearest cold storage and pay for usage.
- Mobile Solar Powered Cold Room Sales/Leasing: Portable solar powered cold storage units sold or leased to smallholder farmers, enabling them to avoid huge investments in creating storage space.
- Cold-Chain Logistics and Refrigerated Transport: Revenue from providing refrigerated transportation services for fresh produce using energy efficient trucks.
- IoT Platform/Subscription Services: Real-time monitoring and data services through mobile app and web platform for cold storage management.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels3 records
Solar Freeze product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Solar Freeze sells, leases, and rents access to portable solar-powered mobile cold storage units for rural smallholder farmers, and provides refrigerated transport and cold-chain logistics from farm gate to consumer. The company also operates a Cold Storage as a Service sharing-economy model, enabling farmers and traders to book cold storage on-demand via mobile app, SMS/USSD, and M-Pesa mobile money payments. An IoT-enabled web and mobile platform provides real-time monitoring and management of cold storage operations.
Product overview
Solar Freeze offers an integrated portfolio of mobile solar-powered cold storage solutions for smallholder farmers in developing regions. The core offerings consist of four interconnected products: (1) Mobile Solar Powered Cold Room - portable solar-powered cold storage units for storing temperature-sensitive produce; (2) Cold-chain Distribution, Logistics & Refrigerated Transport - refrigerated transportation services for the complete cold chain; (3) Cold Storage as a Service - an on-demand 'sharing economy' cold storage access model accessible via M-Pesa and SMS without internet; and (4) Cold Storage Mobile App & IoT Monitoring - real-time monitoring and management platform. Together, these products form an end-to-end solution addressing post-harvest losses from farm storage through transportation to final sale.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Mobile Solar Powered Cold Room
Quantifiable outcome
- Reduces food loss and waste by 90 percent in fresh produce agricultural sector
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Solar Freeze
Customer profileSegments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Solar Freeze technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Solar Freeze partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- M-PesacoreM-Pesa mobile money integration enables smallholder farmers to pay for cold storage services conveniently through mobile transactions. Essential for enabling cashless payments in rural areas where traditional banking is limited.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Solar Freeze competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- ColdHubs: ColdHubs operates solar-powered walk-in cold rooms across Nigeria, providing smallholder farmers with subscription-based cold storage to reduce post-harvest losses. It is the closest direct peer to Solar Freeze in model, technology (solar refrigeration), and target customer (smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa).
- InspiraFarms: InspiraFarms designs and supplies off-grid, solar-powered cold storage and packhouse solutions for agribusinesses and smallholder cooperatives in Africa and Latin America. It directly overlaps with Solar Freeze in cold-chain technology, customer base (smallholder/horticulture), and target geographies in East Africa.
- SokoFresh: SokoFresh is a Kenya-based cold storage provider that offers on-demand, pay-as-you-go cold storage to smallholder farmers and traders via mobile payments. It is a direct domestic competitor to Solar Freeze, operating in the same Kenyan smallholder horticulture market with a similar service-based, mobile-money-enabled model.
- Ecozen Solutions: Ecozen Solutions is an India-based climate-smart agriculture company that builds solar-powered cold storage (Ecofrost) and irrigation solutions for smallholder farmers. It is a direct peer to Solar Freeze in solar refrigeration hardware for rural smallholders, although it serves the Indian rather than African market.
- Promethean Power Systems: Promethean Power Systems designs and deploys thermal battery-based cold storage for rural dairy and produce value chains in India and emerging markets. It is a direct peer in off-grid cold chain for smallholder agricultural supply chains, addressing similar post-harvest loss and cold-chain access challenges as Solar Freeze.
Broad incumbents
- M-KOPA: M-KOPA is one of the largest pay-as-you-go solar home and productive-use energy providers in Kenya and East Africa. While it sells solar systems and appliances rather than cold storage, it is a broad incumbent with overlapping distribution, mobile money integration, and smallholder customer base that could expand into cold-chain adjacent services.
- Sun King: Sun King (Greenlight Planet) sells pay-as-you-go solar lanterns, home systems, and appliances across sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. As a broad solar products incumbent with deep rural distribution, it is a potential channel partner and competitor for cold-chain-adjacent solar products serving Solar Freeze's smallholder base.
- d.light: d.light designs and distributes affordable solar lanterns, home systems, and pay-as-you-go appliances across Africa and Asia. It is a broad incumbent in off-grid solar energy for low-income households, comparable to Solar Freeze in serving rural East African customers with solar-based hardware solutions.
Emerging players
- BURN Manufacturing: BURN Manufacturing is a Kenya-based clean-energy cookstove and charcoal producer with regional distribution and manufacturing scale. It is an emerging player in East African clean-energy hardware serving low-income consumers, with overlap in last-mile rural distribution channels comparable to Solar Freeze.
- Husk Power Systems: Husk Power Systems provides mini-grid and distributed solar power to rural communities and businesses in Africa and Asia. It is an emerging player in off-grid renewable energy for rural productive use, sharing with Solar Freeze a focus on rural energy access as an enabler of agricultural value chain services.
Market position
Strengths1 record
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Solar Freeze social profiles
Digital presenceSolar Freeze financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Solar Freeze leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Solar Freeze funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds4 records
Investors4 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Solar Freeze M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Solar Freeze
What does Solar Freeze do?
Solar Freeze sells, leases, and rents access to portable solar-powered mobile cold storage units for rural smallholder farmers, and provides refrigerated transport and cold-chain logistics from farm gate to consumer. The company also operates a Cold Storage as a Service sharing-economy model, enabling farmers and traders to book cold storage on-demand via mobile app, SMS/USSD, and M-Pesa mobile money payments. An IoT-enabled web and mobile platform provides real-time monitoring and management of cold storage operations.
Is Solar Freeze a public or private company?
Solar Freeze is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Solar Freeze founded?
Solar Freeze was founded in 2019. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Solar Freeze based?
Solar Freeze is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, in the Africa region.
How does Solar Freeze make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Cold Storage as a Service is the primary driver. The others are mobile Solar Powered Cold Room Sales/Leasing, cold-Chain Logistics and Refrigerated Transport and ioT Platform/Subscription Services.
Who are Solar Freeze's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are ColdHubs, InspiraFarms, SokoFresh, Ecozen Solutions and Promethean Power Systems. Broad incumbents are M-KOPA, Sun King and d.light. Emerging players are BURN Manufacturing and Husk Power Systems.
Does Solar Freeze have an API?
No public API is recorded for Solar Freeze.
What industry is Solar Freeze in?
Solar Freeze's product category is Cold Chain Logistics. Its primary akta.pro industry code is TLALABAB, Frozen Food Cold Storage, with a secondary code of TLALACAI, Temperature-Controlled Cross-Dock / Blast Freezing & Tempering Facilities. Its NAICS code is 493120 and its SIC code is 4220.