Participated · Equity · May 2023

M-KOPA uses a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) financing model that lets customers build ownership of appliances via an initial deposit followed by flexible micro-payments. The company operates in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana and is known for a prominent solar product in Kenya and Uganda. M-KOPA is expanding its digital financial services and plans to extend its financial services offerings and product sets. Last year it secured over USD 250M in new debt and equity funding to grow its financial services to underbanked consumers across Sub-Saharan Africa. Most recently M-KOPA obtained a USD 51M loan from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to enable provision of affordable smartphones and enhance digital connectivity for underserved communities in Kenya. The company also intends to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Kenya and Uganda, leveraging its solar products as part of that effort. M-KOPA provides asset financing that lets underbanked customers buy productive assets such as smartphones and solar home systems and pay via digital micro-installments. It operates across Kenya, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria and builds customer credit histories through repayments; default rates sit a little above 10%. The company sells products directly and cross-sells financial services (eg, loans and health insurance) via partnerships and an agent network of over 10,000 people. M-KOPA reports roughly 3 million customers today, has directly employed nearly 2,000 people, and has provided over $600M in cumulative credit historically (now exceeding $1B). It has sold more than a million solar home systems, helping avoid about 2 million tonnes of CO2, and uses sustainability-linked financing tied to impact goals. Future plans include extending its financial-services and product sets, narrowing the gender gap in ownership, piloting in South Africa, and testing electric mobility products such as electric motorcycles. M-KOPA began in 2011 as a solar-power PAYG provider and has expanded its model to finance smartphones, TVs, refrigerators, solar lighting and digital financial services such as cash loans and health insurance. The company serves underbanked customers across Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana, having pulled out of Tanzania. M-KOPA has surpassed 2 million customers and says it has unlocked over $600 million in financing for those users. Its model requires a modest deposit (example given: ~$30) followed by daily payments of roughly $0.30–$1, with an average monthly interest rate of about 3.1%. M-KOPA has scaled its field salesforce and staff — the active seller base grew from 2,500 pre-2020 to 10,000 in 2021 and the company added over 500 full-time positions across four markets in the last two years. The company plans to expand product offerings in Nigeria later this year and in Ghana in early 2023, launch in one new market this year and next, and scale its financial-services products and customer-relationship technology. M-Kopa began as a solar home systems provider and has evolved into a connected asset-financing platform selling a diversified range of devices including smartphones, solar home systems, and digital financial services such as cash loans. Its products are sold through a pay-as-you-go (PAYG) model requiring an initial deposit followed by daily instalments collected via mobile money. The company is positioned to become a leading African personal asset financing provider and operates in the East Africa region. British International Investment (then CDC Group) first made an equity investment in M-Kopa in 2016 when the product offering was primarily solar home systems. BII later committed additional equity in June 2021. The investment record lists the domicile as the United Kingdom and shows the investment status as active. M-KOPA has built an advanced pay-as-you-go platform that unlocks solar, information, technology and finance for millions of people. The company’s systems sit at the heart of the home, connecting lights, phone charging, radios, TVs and refrigerators and enabling customers to upgrade to additional appliances and financial services. Subscribers choose flexible daily payment plans that can be paid from any place with a mobile signal. M-KOPANET is M-KOPA’s patented telemetry and IoT platform that powers connected devices, while the M-KOPAIQ Analytics Suite analyses device performance, customer preferences and payment behaviour to drive operations and surface new service opportunities. Through its platform M-KOPA targets households moving beyond unreliable utilities toward owned distributed energy and digital services.

Participated · Series A · Apr 2023

BlueMark provides independent impact verification and intelligence to investors and other market participants, assessing impact management practices and the completeness and reliability of impact reporting. Its verification methodologies draw on industry standards and frameworks including the Impact Management Project, the Operating Principles for Impact Management, PRI, SDG Impact, and the EU's SFDR. The company was founded in January 2020 as a spinoff from Tideline and is led by CEO Christina Leijonhufvud. BlueMark has completed 125 verifications to date for investors with a combined $206 billion in impact AUM. The firm sells verification and intelligence services to the impact and sustainable investing market and intends to use new funds to expand operations and broaden its business reach. BlueMark provides independent impact verification services that assess both Impact Management Practice (systems and processes) and Impact Performance (reporting approaches) for investors and companies. The firm has completed more than 60 impact verifications across a broad range of asset managers and asset owners. Its services also cover impact labeling and classification (including alignment with SFDR and the UN SDGs) and ESG practices and performance reporting by portfolio companies and fund managers. BlueMark is an independent subsidiary of Tideline and is led by CEO Christina Leijonhufvud. The company plans to use the new funding to expand its verification services across different industries and geographies. BlueMark’s mission is to strengthen trust in impact investing and increase accountability for impact.

Participated · Series C · Mar 2019

Since commercial launch in 2015, PEG Africa has become a leading off-grid asset-financing provider in West Africa, distributing PAYGO solar home technology to consumers and micro-businesses. As of June 2020 the company had served nearly 100,000 households, installed 2.14 MW of renewable capacity, employed over 490 full-time staff, and operated 80 service centres across Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and recently Mali. PEG’s core product is pay-as-you-go solar home systems, and the company is expanding its offering to include productive-use appliances such as solar water pumps for smallholder farmers. The company has qualified as a 2X Challenge UPvestment with CDC group and has pursued gender-diversity initiatives supported by Power Africa. EDFI ElectriFI’s financing is being used to accelerate distribution in Côte d’Ivoire and to catalyse additional funding for growth and productive-use deployments. PEG Africa, founded in 2013 and based in Ghana, provides Pay-As-You-Go solar home systems and related services. Since its debut it has provided solar electricity to over 400,000 users across Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, and Senegal. The company also offers solar water irrigation services and larger solar power systems for multinational customers. PEG Africa raised $4 million in debt capital from UK-based CDC Group to expand its PAYG operations in Senegal. The Senegal branch has experienced exponential growth in the past 12 months and has become profitable. Prior to this debt raise, PEG Africa had secured almost $30 million over the prior two years, including a $25 million Series C announced in January. PEG Africa finances and deploys pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar systems to consumers and SMEs, helping customers replace appliances that depend on grid power with solar alternatives. The company serves over 400,000 consumers across Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Senegal and has recently expanded into solar water irrigation and larger solar power systems. Management says PEG has almost doubled in size every year since 2015, which it cites as evidence of financial sustainability. The newly secured $5 million will be used to boost its existing markets and support further expansion across West Africa. The funding is structured as junior debt provided by the Electrification Financing Initiative (ElectriFI), which is sponsored by the European Union and managed by the EDFI Management Company. ElectriFI’s financing is backed by UK DFI, CDC Group, and SunFunder, groups that previously provided a $15 million senior secured local‑currency debt facility to PEG earlier in 2019. PEG Africa provides PAYG financing for solar home systems across Ghana, Ivory Coast and Senegal, serving over 60,000 households. The company focuses on replacing polluting fuels like kerosene by offering cleaner, cheaper solar solutions to low-income customers. More than 50% of PEG’s customers earn less than US$3 per day; 89% lack access to the national grid and 82% had never received financing before PEG. Headquartered in Ghana, PEG says it is expanding rapidly and profitably while improving lives in the region. The company plans to use the new funding to further establish itself as a market leader and expand service delivery across West Africa. Its funding history includes a US$13.5M round in 2017 and two rounds in 2016, taking total funding to US$50M. PEG Africa provides pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar home systems to off-grid and rural customers, focusing on areas without reliable access to electricity. The company combines product sales with financing to expand residential solar adoption. It secured US$1.5 million in debt financing to deploy systems sufficient for roughly 75,000 residents in Ghana. PEG Africa has a stated goal of financing 500,000 households in West Africa by 2020. In parallel with the debt raise, PEG Africa won a grant from USAID's Scaling Off-Grid Energy Grant Challenge to pilot new innovations for its PAYG business. CEO Hugh Whalan described the debt deal as a landmark for the off-grid PAYG solar sector, and the firm noted legal support from Nixon Peabody on the transaction.

Participated · Equity · Mar 2018

NewsGuard builds a ratings and "Nutrition Label" system that evaluates the 7,500 most accessed and shared news and information websites in the U.S., assigning Green, Yellow, or Red ratings. The company will hire dozens of trained journalists as analysts; two analysts independently review each site and produce editable Nutrition Labels, with senior editorial officers resolving disputes. A 24/7 SWAT Team will rate newly trending sites in real time. NewsGuard will supply free browser plug-ins to news literacy groups, schools, and individual consumers and will license its ratings and labels to social media, search platforms, and other aggregators. The company plans to launch in the U.S. ahead of the mid-term elections and then expand to other countries. Financially, NewsGuard has raised $6M in funding to support these operations.

Participated · Seed · Nov 2017

Anfiro is developing energy-efficient membrane technology to reduce the cost and energy required for desalination and water treatment. The company is commercializing technology licensed from Purdue University and the University of Notre Dame. Led by CEO Jaime Mateus, Anfiro aims to provide affordable freshwater and reduce greenhouse gas emissions at global scale. The company closed a $1.1M seed funding round to advance development of its membranes. Anfiro will deploy the funds specifically for further development of its energy-efficient membrane products. The team is focused on scaling the technology toward commercial water- and desalination-applications.