Energy Access Ventures Launches New Climate Fund For African Cleantech Startups

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Energy Access Ventures (EAV) and Lion’s Head Global Partners have teamed together on a second venture capital fund focused on Africa, cleantech, resource-efficient next-generation firms, and associated B2B and B2C businesses.

The “E3 Low Carbon Economy Fund I,” as it is known, is the successor of the EAV fund, which has a track record of investing in early-stage renewable energy enterprises and energy efficiency in Africa. The EAV fund, which was formed in 2015 and recently closed, raised 75 million euros. It invested in Ziz Energie, a Chadian supplier of solar mini-grids, in July 2020. Following that, EAV invested in SolarX, a firm situated in Bamako (Mali) that specializes in solar energy supply to enterprises.

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E3, which stands for Enabling Emerging Entrepreneurs and is billed as a venture capital fund, would invest in next-generation climate-smart enterprises in Africa that are transitioning to a green economy. 

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The fund will provide initial financing to promising companies that propose carbon-neutral solutions, and it will rely on its partners’ African investing experience.

Energy Access Ventures is an African early-stage investment firm. Its first fund (EAV I) was launched in February 2015 and has a total of €75 million in assets under management, with 14 portfolio firms and one exit.

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Lion’s Head is a frontier and emerging markets investment bank with two primary lines of business: asset management and investment banking. In Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, the organization manages roughly $600 million in assets in four African credit funds with a focus on renewable energy, decarbonization, and capital markets.

cleantech fund Africa cleantech fund Africa

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