Nairobi, August 31st, 2020 – Energy Access Ventures (EAV) is pleased to announce a follow-on investment in Solarise Africa, a pan-African clean energy and energy efficiency leasing company. The round was led by French development finance institution, Proparco, which invested the USD equivalent of 4 million Euros in quasi equity through the AFD Group EU-funded African Renewable Energy Scale-Up facility, alongside existing investors, EAV and EDFI ElectriFI, an EU-funded impact investment facility. EAV previously led the seed investment round in Solarise and is proud to continue to support the company as they lead the revolution towards smart distributed energy in Africa through innovative financing solutions.
Solarise Africa provides financing solutions to commercial and industrial businesses, enabling them to adopt clean energy systems, in particular solar, by limiting the upfront investment and providing manageable instalment payments and short payback periods. Solarise facilitates the uptake of more reliable and less costly energy sources, thereby optimizing the clients’ cost base and productivity. The company has operations across Kenya, South Africa and Rwanda where it has deployed several projects and continues to develop an extensive pipeline. The company will use the capital raised to fund project deployments and for further market expansion.
“We are grateful for the support we have received by EAV as our anchor investor and by the confidence our existing investors EAV and Electrifi have shown by this follow up investment. In addition, we are proud to welcome Proparco as a new investor in Solarise. These investments will prepare us to further increase market share in our current countries of operation, as well as for future expansions into Africa. We look forward to growing our business with the support of our investors,” said Jan-Albert Valk, Co-founder and CEO, Solarise Africa.
“We are excited to continue to support the Solarise team as they grow their book and geographical footprint across Africa. The team has continued to demonstrate their bankability with successful deployments within a short period, strategic market expansion, pipeline development and agility in handling the COVID-19 crisis. Solarise’s innovative financing solution remains compelling for many Commercial and Industrial clients across Africa grappling with frequent outages and fluctuating costs that affect productivity. Solarise’s solution allows C&I clients to adopt cleaner, cheaper, more reliable energy sources while focusing their resources on their core business, “said Paras Patel, Partner, Energy Access Ventures.
“Solarise represents a compelling opportunity for Proparco in the off-grid sector, as it develops a scalable and replicable model while offering tailor-made financing solutions for commercial and industrial clients, in markets where power outages are common. We are proud to support this innovative project as a first co-investment alongside a strong provider such as EAV. It should remarkably contribute to avoid 250 000 tons of CO2 eq. per year by enabling African SMEs to start their road towards greener energy through
the provision of a decentralized renewable energy production solution.”said Johann Choux, Head of Equity Investments – Financial Institutions & VC, Proparco.
“EDFI ElectriFI invested USD 1.65m in Solarise Series A equity round early 2019. Since then, the company has successfully rolled out its business plan, strengthening its team, commissioning its first project and expanding its pipeline through additional partnerships. Only one year after, we are delighted to back up the company with an additional USD 2.5m of mezzanine notes in a Series B round, welcoming Proparco to join the round. With this important milestone achieved, we believe Solarise is excellently positioned to realise its ambitious plans, targeting over 150 MW of solar power assets, which correspond to reaching over 100,000 connections indirectly within the next 5 years, a very significant contribution to the electrification efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa,” said Dominiek Deconinck, CIO at EDFI Management Company.
About Solarise
Solarise Africa is a pan African energy leasing company for solar and other energy assets focusing on Commercial and Industrial (C&I) clients. The company was founded by Patrik Huber, Jan Albert Valk and Sakkie van Wijk, who all have a combined deep experience in leasing, SME finance and renewable energy across the entire African continent. With a business model designed for scalability, Solarise Africa provides smart financing through close collaboration with a selected group of partners across solar and other renewable energy technologies. For more information, please visit www.solariseafrica.com
About EAV
Energy Access Ventures is an investment firm in Africa. With over 40 years of investment experience in Africa, EAV is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the emerging smart, distributed, cost-effective infrastructure market segment. EAV has carved out a reputation as a hands-on investor that works closely with its portfolio companies to capture the significant opportunity in Africa. EAV’s first fund (“EAV I”) was raised in February 2015 and is €75,000,000 in size with 9 investment professionals. The fund is sponsored by the leading French multinational Schneider Electric and is managed by Aster Capital in Paris. Its investors are CDC Group (UK), managing funds for the UK Department for International Development, the European Investment Bank, the Fonds d’Investissement et de Soutien aux Entreprises en Afrique (FISEA) held by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and managed by Proparco, the Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM), administered by AFD, Financierings- Maatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden (FMO), the Netherlands Development Finance Company the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) and Schneider Electric. For more information, please visit www.eavafrica.com.
About EDFI ElectriFI
EDFI ElectriFI, the Electrification Financing Initiative, is an impact-first investment facility, investing in early stage private companies and projects that increase or improve
access to and supply of sustainable energy in developing countries. EDFI ElectriFI, is managed by the EDFI Management Company, a company established by the 15 European Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) www.electrifi.eu.
About ARE Scale-up Facility
The “African Renewable Energy Scale-Up” (ARE Scale Up facility) has been set up by Proparco and the French Development Agency with the support of the European Union. The Facility intends to stimulate investments in the field of connected renewable energies (on – grid) and off-grid in Africa.
About Proparco
Proparco has been supporting sustainable development for 40 years across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle-East. As the private sector financing arm of Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Proparco provides funding and support to companies and financial institutions and helps them control the impacts of their activity. In 2019, Proparco committed €2.5bn of financing, focused on key development sectors: infrastructure, especially renewable energies, agribusiness, financial institutions, healthcare and education. Its interventions support private sector actors who contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by creating jobs and decent incomes, providing essential goods and services, and who contribute to poverty reduction and the fight against climate change. Africa is Proparco’s first region of intervention, with € 1.285m granted in 2019, representing 51% of its commitments. For more information, please visit: www.proparco.fr/en and @Proparco