Rooftop solar with nothing to pay upfront for Malaysian homes

The problem

Rooftop solar saves a household money, but the bill for the system comes first. Most families cannot put that much down at once.

The rules also changed. The NEM 3.0 net-metering scheme closed in June 2025. Under its replacement, Solar ATAP, a home earns less for power it sends back to the grid. Savings now come mostly from power the home uses itself.

What Okapi does

Okapi was founded in Kuala Lumpur in 2022 by Lai Zhern Yung and Christopher Kwong. It describes its mission as making affordable residential solar energy accessible to homeowners in Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

Okapi buys the system and leases it to the homeowner for up to 10 years, with zero downpayment. More than 50 installer partners work with Okapi. Okapi recovers its cost through the monthly lease payments.

Every installation takes cash out of Okapi long before the lease pays it back. The faster Okapi grows, the more funding it needs, and solar leases are a new asset class that lenders are still learning to price.

What changed

Aquila has financed Okapi since December 2024 with $2.4M+* of loans in USD and EUR. Excluding renewals, the figure is $1.6M+.

In July 2026 Aquila added a five-year facility of EUR 214k, funded by retail investors on a European crowdfunding platform. The money financed 58 systems with a combined 495 kWp.

Over their life, the Okapi systems that Aquila financed will generate about 4.6 GWh of clean power.