Solarise Africa, a Kenyan energy leasing company, has received EUR5 million (US$5.9 million) in debt financing from Trine, a Swedish impact investment platform, to help it continue to expand across Africa.
“Our first debt raise marks a milestone for the business”, said Valk, Solarise’s chief executive officer (CEO). “We are deeply honoured by Trine’s and its investors’ confidence. These funds will be used to deploy projects and expand market share in current operational countries. At the moment, Solarise Africa has operations in Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, and Ghana where several projects have been deployed, and our pipeline continues to expand quickly. We are excited to make our Energy-as-a-Service offering available to more partners so that we can actively drive Africa’s progress together.”
The funds will support investments in food security, renewable energy, urban development, manufacturing and production in South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda, and will be disbursed in multiple tranches. Five solar projects in South Africa and Kenya will be funded with the first disbursement.
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Trine’s CEO and co-founder, Sam Manaberi, expressed enthusiasm for the new partnership as his company expanded into the commercial and industrial market.
“This presents a new offering for our investors as Solarise Africa works with a selected group of renewable energy solution companies and collaborates very closely with their partners to provide a range of tailor-made financial solutions for their customers. Their innovative financing solutions are very impressive and we are glad to have them onboard and look forward to following their continued success,” Manaberi said.
A Look At What Solarise Does
Founded in 2017 by Jan Albert Valk, Patrik Huber, Sakkie Van Wijk, Solarise Africa works with a selected group of renewable energy solution companies and they collaborate very closely with their partners to provide a range of tailor-made financial solutions for their customers. They offer innovative leasing solutions that require minimal capital expenditure with short payback periods that companies save money. This enables companies to optimise their cost base and productivity, reduce dependability on an unstable power grid and adopt clean energy systems.
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Last year, the company raised a US$10 million Series B funding round through a select group of partners, and it has now added EUR5 million in debt from Trine, an investment service built specifically to provide debt capital to innovative solar-focused businesses in emerging markets.
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