GreenTec has announced that it has invested in Nigeria-based Powerstove Energy, an innovative smokeless stove and fuel system to address problems of high fuel costs and greenhouse gas emission.
“We design, manufacture, distribute and sell clean cooking stoves that self-generates electricity as a by-product of the cooking process, and we also produce wood pellets from agricultural and wood waste. Our anchor strategy has been that we avoid using the traditional marketing channels to advertise our products. Instead, we rely on word of mouth and referrals, which have grown our sales by an average of 18% month on month,” Founder and CEO Okey Esse said in an interview.
Why The Investor Invested
The latest investment by Greentec Capital Partners is one way the VC firm is diversifying its portfolio. The VC firm has previously invested in startups such as Sumundi, Coliba, Amitruck, Kwiks, Ecodudu, among others. Apart from fintech, retail-tech, ecommerce, cleantech or agritech, the VC firm is yet to make a major inroad into healthcare.
“Powerstove has developed a novel and scalable solution to addressing not just fuel costs and emissions, but more broadly to address issues of hunger and hygiene. Okey and his team have a well-developed product that is an excellent fit for its niche and they are the team to execute on it. We look forward to helping this impactful business grow and bring low-cost and high-efficiency heating to Nigerian and expanding energy access in Africa,” Xavier Chapel, Senior Company Builder for GreenTec Capital Partners said.
A Look At What Powerstove Does
Founded in 2018 by the University of Jos graduate Okey Esse, Powerstove’s solution combines sustainable resource use with tech-driven efficiency innovation into a versatile and affordable to solution. The startup converts non-recyclable paper, wood and agricultural by products of various crops into biomass pellets, which are then used to fuel the affordable, fuel efficient, and smokeless cook-stove. The innovative stove is able to produce 50 watts of continuous power, providing enough energy to charge phones, lights, cameras, and more. The stoves are also equipped with an IoT System with internal pre-programmed and programmable computer chips that controls the fan, electricity supply, and also data transfers over 2G/3G network by using input sensors and output components to control all these functions. Powerstove claims to be currently the world’s first and only clean cookstove that is built on on-board IoT System.
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer