Sunfunder - Afrikan Heroes

Sunfunder, An Investor In African Cleantech Startups, Acquired

June 21, 2022

Mirova has announced the purchase of SunFunder, a private debt management company that supports renewable energy projects in Africa and Asia, which accelerates its mission to become a global leader in impact investing.

Audrey Desirato and Ryan Levinson Co-founders of SunFunder — Audrey Desirato, Co-founders of SunFunder

“We couldn’t imagine a better partner to join forces with than Mirova, a company with a mission and strong culture of impact that we share. We’ve heard a lot of talk about ESG1 investment, but there are very few companies like Mirova and SunFunder leading the pack with 100% truly sustainable investments. Together we become the leading clean energy and climate investor in emerging markets, through bold new investments with real impact,” Audrey Desirato and Ryan Levinson, Co-founders of SunFunder said.

With the acquisition, the entire SunFunder team will be retained in order to continue developing their high impact energy transition work and to build a bigger emerging markets platform committed to clean energy and climate investments with Mirova.

Why The Acquisition

According to Mirova, SunFunder’s business objectives fit Mirova’s goal of being a global leader in energy transition financing, and it enhances its debt financing experience and in-depth knowledge of emerging countries. Mirova, a pioneer in impact investing in Europe through its investment strategies in energy transition infrastructure, private equity, social impact investing, and listed stocks, is thereby increasing its commitments in emerging markets, where it already has a presence in natural capital.

“In order to thoroughly address the challenges that come with the fight against global warming and social inequalities, having a local presence in emerging countries is critical. We are delighted that SunFunder’s teams, with their proven experience and expertise, are joining us. Together, we will pursue our efforts to meet the needs of the real economy and increase the impact of our investments,” said Philippe Zaouati, CEO of Mirova.

Mirova will control 100 percent of SunFunder after the transaction is completed, and its teams and expertise will boost its local investment and execution capabilities for its private assets strategies. Mirova is thus creating an emerging countries investment platform, into which the Singapore office will be integrated in 2021.

Mirova is a Natixis Investment Managers affiliate committed to impact investment, with a primary goal of financing the environmental and energy transition.

The first goal of Mirova and SunFunder is to develop a solar energy debt financing vehicle with a $500 million investment capacity dispersed over Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The first closing could occur before the end of the year2.

As of March 31, 2022, Mirova and its subsidiaries managed €27 billion in assets, including €2.2 billion in energy transition infrastructure and €500 million in natural capital.

A Look At What SunFunder Does

SunFunder was founded ten years ago as a crowdfunding platform with the primary goal of providing finance solutions for Africa’s decentralised solar energy sector in order to create direct impact at the nexus of climate change and inequality. Since then, the company has launched a number of innovative blended finance investment vehicles and closed over $165 million in investments in 58 companies deploying clean energy primarily in Africa and Asia, including off-grid solar home systems in Malawi, village mini-grid projects in Kenya, and commercial and industrial rooftop installations in Nigeria and Thailand.

SunFunder has helped more than ten million people gain access to solar energy, primarily in East and West Africa, before expanding its expertise to other growing markets, including Southeast Asia.

SunFunder boasts an experienced and diverse workforce of 38 employees from 16 different nationalities, with 55 percent of them being women and 45 percent being African, based mostly in Nairobi, Paris, and London.

SunFunder had previously invested in African renewable energy startups such as PEG Africa, d.Light, PAYG, SolarNow, SunCulture, as well as Daystar Power.

Kenyan Digital Insurance Platform mTek Raises $4M Funding Round

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh

Africa-focused Investor, SunFunder, Raises $70m To Invest In Off-grid Startups

March 13, 2021

SunFunder, the investment company specializing in solar energy has just completed the mobilization of capital for its Solar Energy Transformation (SET) fund which it intends to invest in solar energy firms in Africa and Asia. SunFunder closed SET at $70m with investment from Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank AG (OeEB), the Austrian government’s development bank.

*Sabine Gaber, member of the Administrative Council of the OeEB*

“Off-grid solutions have played a critical role in providing clean, affordable and reliable energy, especially to rural populations. We are therefore proud to team up with SunFunder — an experienced partner concerned with impact in this area — and to support this innovative fund which improves access to energy for millions of people,” states Sabine Gaber, member of the Administrative Council of the OeEB.

The SET fund was started by SunFunder with the aim of accelerating the electrification process in Africa. This funding mechanism has attracted many other investors such as Swedfund which injected $12 million into it in September 2020. The fund was also funded by the American Development Finance Corporation (DFC), Calvert Impact Capital, Ceniarth, the IKEA Bank of America Foundation, Mercy Investment Services, Schmidt Family Foundation, as well as several individual investors through the Toniic Impact network.

A Look At What SunFunder Does And How Off-grid Companies May Apply For Loans From It

SunFunder provides innovative debt financing for solar enterprises working in emerging and frontier markets. It collaborates with major debt fund investors around the world to unlock capital for solar energy projects. Find out more below.

It invests in solar enterprises across Africa and other regions that need debt financing to scale. The company helps companies that are active in the off-grid, residential, productive use, mini-grid and commercial and industrial solar sectors. These companies range from established global players to early-stage pioneers. In Nigeria, for example, SunFunder invested $ 4 million in Daystar Power to provide solar power to industrial and commercial customers. The investment company has also participated in several fundraisers, including that of solar irrigation system supplier SunFunder and solar home system supplier PEG Africa.

To know more about SunFunder’s loan application process, click here.

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

Sunfunder invest Sunfunder invest

Africa-focused Investor Sunfunder Defies Covid-19 To Close $140m In Funding For Off-grid Energy Companies

February 28, 2021

Even though the coronavirus ravaged the world for a greater part of last year, SunFunder, the Kenya-based venture capital company offering debt financing to solar companies in emerging and frontier markets, and previous investor in Nigerian solar energy company — Zola Electric, has announced it increased its funding to or emerging market solar to $140 million. The company said part of the funding came from the over-subscribed $70m SET Fund, which saw commitments from new investors including Swedfund and OeEB.

“With the closing of the oversubscribed SET Fund, we are now looking ahead to accelerating our investments and impact over the coming years. This will take new partnerships, new fund structures and new capital committed to the climate finance and clean energy transition,” the company said.

Just recently, the company syndicated an $11m debt facility for Nairobi-headquartered off-grid solar technology company servicing smallholder farmers, SunCulture. The co-investors were Triodos Investment Management, Nordic Development Fund, AlphaMundi and an AfDB fund managed by Lion’s Head.

The firm which currently has 56 portfolio companies across 23 countries, said 8 more potential investments are currently in advanced due diligence stage.

A Look At What SunFunder Does And How Off-grid Companies May Apply For Loans From It

SunFunder provides innovative debt financing for solar enterprises working in emerging and frontier markets. It collaborates with major debt fund investors around the world to unlock capital for solar energy projects. Find out more below.

It invests in solar enterprises across Africa and other regions that need debt financing to scale. The company helps companies that are active in the off-grid, residential, productive use, mini-grid and commercial and industrial solar sectors. These companies range from established global players to early-stage pioneers.

To know more about SunFunder’s loan application process, click here.

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

SunFunder Invests Over $100m In Venture Debts In Two African Solar Startups

May 18, 2020

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the world, SunFunder the Kenya-based venture capital company offering debt financing to solar companies in emerging and frontier markets has announced it has invested over $100 million in venture debt in four solar businesses, including its portfolio startups, M-KOPA in Kenya and PEG Africa in Ghana.

‘‘The Covid-19 pandemic has changed all our lives. The companies we work with have all been impacted to an extent, as well as their customers, who have most to gain or lose from how this crisis plays out for the energy access sector. SunFunder acted fast to get ahead of these impacts and help mitigate the risks to our sector as best as possible. We have been working closely with our existing borrowers to understand how they and their customers are being impacted, and in turn how SunFunder can continue to support them and best manage any new risks to our portfolio and investors,’’ SunFunder said in a statement.

Here Is What You Need To Know

According to SunFunder, it closed four new loans at the end of Q1, 2020 bringing the total loan sum to $100m which it invested in distributed solar in Africa and other emerging regions.
The company said the new loans were with two existing solar home system borrowers — M-KOPA in Kenya and PEG Africa in Ghana — as well as long-term financing for the solarisation of Orange’s telecom towers in the Central African Republic by energy solutions provider CREI, which would cut CO2 emissions by 1,300 tons annually.
It also disclosed that it sealed its first commercial & industrial (C&I) end user financing with MCI in Kenya for a solar installation and energy efficiency improvements.

“We are still open for business and looking to support the sector further. We are doing this by working closely with all our partners, our portfolio companies and potential new investees,” the company further said.

SunFunder has been active in the African solar business ecosystem investing in solar startups such as Zola Electric in Nigeria, PEG Africa in Ghana, Solarnow in Uganda, Astonfield in Kenya, Inspira farms in Rwanda, among others.
The company also announced new partnerships with organisations like Sida and DFC, who, it said, has provided it with credit guarantee and political risk insurance facilities respectively, as it looks to mitigate new risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Emerging from the Covid-19 crisis will be a long process,” the company said. “We are doing all we can to make sure it doesn’t set back the longer-term challenges of solving energy access and climate change.”

New Initiatives For Solar Startups In Africa

Aware of the continuing threat posed by the pandemic to solar businesses in Africa, SunFunder also said it is working with Acumen, Persistent and responsAbility, among others, on setting up a relief fund for energy access companies, to support them through the crisis and protect local jobs.

“We will be providing more information about this soon, but any companies (or investors) that have not yet registered their interest can do so here: energyaccessrelief.org,” it said.

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.