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Norfund

Klingenberggata 4, Oslo, N-0161, Norway

Overview

Norfund is an active, strategic minority investor. They offer risk capital and expertise to help building sustainable businesses in poor countries. Norfund aim to invest in countries where they can have the greatest impact. In countries where the private sector is weak and access to capital is scarce. This is primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, but also in some countries in South East Asia and Central America.

Total investments
16
Lead investments
10
Investments · 12mo
2
Active investors
4

Sector focus

  • Finance
  • Impact Investing
  • Venture Capital
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Investment portfolio

  • Erco Energía

    Participated · Series C · Aug 2026

    Founded in Medellín in 2011, Erco has built a comprehensive clean-energy ecosystem spanning solar generation, storage, electric mobility, asset management, digital energy trading, electrification and energy efficiency. The company has delivered over 2,600 projects and operates more than 450 MWp of installed capacity, principally in Colombia. Erco is a partner on large-scale developments such as the roughly 400 MWp Andes solar project being developed with EPM. Financially, Erco completed a $129 million Series C equity round in 2026, described as one of the largest Colombian equity rounds of the year, with Axon Partners Group among its main backers. The company intends to use the proceeds to continue expanding its portfolio and advance its role in the region’s energy transition.

  • Mulilo

    Led · Equity · Nov 2025

    Mulilo develops, owns, and operates utility-scale wind, solar, and battery energy storage systems across South Africa. The company has a development pipeline exceeding 30 GW and currently has 765 MW of projects under construction, with plans to add another 1 GW to construction in 2026. Management expects to reach financial close on 5.5 GW of projects by the end of 2027. Once fully built, Mulilo’s portfolio is projected to avoid roughly 11 million tonnes of CO₂ annually and generate enough clean electricity to power nearly 14 million South African households. Beyond energy generation, the firm runs community programmes in education, healthcare, and local business development. Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners (through its New Markets Fund I) has been a core backer, and Norfund has now joined as a strategic minority shareholder. The fresh capital strengthens Mulilo’s balance sheet and positions it to accelerate South Africa’s transition to a cleaner, more resilient energy system.

  • OmniRetail

    Led · Series A · Apr 2025

    OmniRetail digitizes order management for FMCG manufacturers, distributors and informal retailers across Nigeria, Ghana and Ivory Coast. It serves 145 manufacturers, more than 5,800 distributors and over 150,000 retailers across 12 cities, supported by a third-party logistics network of 1,100+ vehicles and 85 local logistics partners. The company embeds finance via Omnipay, which processed over ₦1.3 trillion in transactions last year and disbursed ₦19 billion monthly in inventory credit with near-zero defaults. OmniRetail pursues an asset-light "network of networks" model that delivered profitability: it was EBITDA positive in 2023 and net profitable in 2024. The 2024 acquisition of Traction Apps added full-stack payment capabilities, POS terminals, PSSP and Super Agent licenses and retailer-level sales data. With new capital the company plans to deepen embedded finance products, expand its retailer base and product categories (personal care, home care, cold storage), upgrade infrastructure, enhance credit underwriting and strengthen partnerships with domestic debt providers while pursuing a local debt raise to scale its loan book.

  • Arnergy

    Participated · Series B · Apr 2025

    Arnergy builds and installs solar systems and battery storage for homes and businesses across sectors including hospitality, education, finance, agriculture, and healthcare. Its lease-to-own product, Z Lite, has become a core focus as customers shift from outright purchases to monthly payment plans. The company has deployed over 1,800 systems across 35 Nigerian states, totaling 9 MWp of solar and 23 MWh of battery storage. Outright purchases comprised 60–70% of revenue in 2023 but fell to 25% last year as lease-to-own adoption grew; Arnergy tripled its lease customer base between 2023 and 2024 and expects 4–5x growth this year. Naira revenues have climbed and are on track to quadruple by year-end, while dollar revenues remained flat due to currency devaluation; the company is building FX revenue through dollar-denominated B2B2C partnerships and potential expansion into Francophone Africa. To scale, Arnergy is shifting from in-house sales to a partnership-driven model and is pursuing local debt from banks and DFIs to support energy-as-a-service projects. Arnergy designs, sells and installs distributed solar PV and lithium battery energy storage systems for residential customers and commercial sectors such as hospitality, education, finance, agriculture and healthcare. Its systems are tailored to address intermittent grid supply and enable customers to switch from petrol/diesel generators to cleaner, lower-cost solar power. The company has deployed over 7MW of solar PV and installed more than 20MW of lithium battery energy storage solutions; prior to its 2019 Series A it had installed over 2MW for more than 2,000 clients. Arnergy reports a 10x revenue growth over the last five years and has historically derived about 75% of revenue from outright sales, though it is now increasingly bullish on lease products. The startup operates across Nigeria and intends to maintain service provision in all 36 states via min-grid developers. Management plans further expansion and is preparing a Series B round scheduled to close this quarter to accelerate adoption within and outside Nigeria. Arnergy provides distributed renewable energy systems that combine solar power, storage solutions and proprietary remote management technologies to address intermittency and grid unreliability. Led by founder and CEO Femi Adeyemo, the Lagos-based company tailors affordable energy solutions for business and residential customers. Since launch it has delivered over 2MW of installed capacity and more than 5MWh of storage capacity across Nigeria. The company offers 5kW modular systems and targets verticals including small businesses, healthcare, hospitality, financial services, agribusiness and education. Arnergy intends to use recent funding to accelerate commercial growth and expand energy reliability to more customers.

  • Berkeley Energy Commercial Industrial Solutions (BECIS)

    Participated · Equity · Dec 2024

    Becis is a Singapore-based Energy as a Service (EaaS) provider serving commercial and industrial customers. Using an EaaS model, it develops, constructs, operates and owns distributed energy solutions to reduce customer risk and complexity while achieving sustainability, cost efficiency and energy resilience. The company specializes in a variety of decarbonisation solutions and is led by CEO Eren Ergin. Becis operates across eight strategic markets: India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, China and Cambodia. In December 2024 it raised US$53M in equity funding. The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach. BECIS is a leading energy-as-a-service provider focused on rooftop solar across South and Southeast Asia. The company plans to grow its rooftop solar portfolio in markets including Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and India. To support that expansion it secured a $50 million joint financing facility. The investment is expected to enable BECIS to avoid 319,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. BECIS emphasizes sustainability and innovation and aims to drive renewable energy adoption and promote energy literacy within local communities. The partnership with its financiers is presented as supporting a thriving, sustainable future in the region.

Team

  • Tellef Thorleifsson

    CEO

    LinkedIn
  • Mark Davis

    Investment Director

    LinkedIn
  • Fay Chetnakarnkul

    Investment Director, Head of Asia Region

    LinkedIn
  • Carl Johan Wahlund

    Investment Director Green Infrastructure

    LinkedIn