Participated · Equity · Mar 2026

Sistema.bio is described as a Mexican biogas firm that has launched FarmCarbon, a climate finance vehicle tied to carbon markets. The company secured $53 million to support FarmCarbon, which is intended to channel carbon market revenues to smallholder farmers. The article does not provide additional detail on Sistema.bio’s core products, revenue, user metrics, or founding year. It also does not disclose participating investors or prior financing rounds. The disclosed funding indicates an active move into climate finance mechanisms linked to the carbon market.

Participated · Series A · Feb 2021

AgroCenta operates a mobile merchanting platform that provides market information, storage and delivery solutions, and financial services to smallholder farmers in Ghana. Founded in 2016, the startup aims to scale its agri-tech ecosystem and secure crop purchases from smallholders. It won the Seedstars World competition in 2018 and previously raised seed funding that same year. The company recently raised US$790,000 in pre-Series A funding from Shell Foundation, FCDO, AV Ventures and Rabo Foundation. AgroCenta will use the capital to develop smallholder inclusion programs and procure crops at transparent and fair market prices to service offtake contracts. Leadership described the investment as a significant milestone amid the COVID-19 backdrop and rising demand from brewery, manufacturing, and consumer off-takers. AgroCenta operates an online marketplace that links smallholder farmers to buyers across broader geographic markets. The company was founded in 2015 by Francis Obirikorang and Michael Ocansey. Its core product focuses on helping farmers sell agricultural commodities more efficiently through an online sales platform. AgroCenta attended the Seedstars World Summit where it met multiple investors; three of the seven or eight investors it spoke to expressed willingness to invest. In April 2018 the startup was named the 2018 Seedstars Global Winner and received a $500,000 equity investment. The award was presented at the Seedstars World Summit in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Participated · Series A · Aug 2020

SparkMeter is a Washington, DC-based provider of grid-management services, metering equipment, and cloud software used by communities across Africa, Asia and the Americas. Its plug-and-play solution enables microgrids and distribution utilities in remote locations to access flexible billing, customer communications, and remote monitoring and control. The company offers integrated cloud-based metering and operational analytics software alongside metering hardware. Led by CEO Dan Schnitzer, SparkMeter operates in more than 25 countries and targets emerging markets where 2.1 billion people live without reliable electricity access. SparkMeter raised a $5M investment from Honeywell Smart Energy and intends to use the funds to move from the small microgrid market into the larger global utility market. Under the partnership, Honeywell Smart Energy will introduce SparkMeter’s solutions to its US utility customers and offer SparkMeter’s metering hardware to large emerging market countries. SparkMeter provides a technology platform that ingests real-time data streams from the edge of a utility’s network and overlays them on a detailed model of the grid to create a digital twin. The company’s stack includes hardware and software for meter-to-cash workflows, detailed system insights, and integrations to improve distribution system operations. Led by CEO Dan Schnitzer, SparkMeter addresses visibility, congestion, and stress on lines and transformers while helping utilities plan for DERs and EV chargers. The company plans to introduce a comprehensive grid analytics platform and will release the first stage of its software platform, Koios™, in April 2022. SparkMeter intends to use the new funds to accelerate growth and expand operations. The recent financing round brought the company’s total financing to $22M and signals expanded runway for product rollout and market expansion. SparkMeter provides grid management services, hardware, and software that bring smart metering and analytics to utilities serving underserved communities in Africa, Asia and the Americas. The company is launching a new Digital Solutions offering to connect smart-grid data insights to business operations for large electricity distribution utilities in emerging markets. Digital Solutions will help utilities digitalize operations, assess areas for improvement, and deploy customized algorithms and solutions to improve business performance. The service can enable utilities to avoid capital upgrades through non-wires alternatives such as distributed energy resources and load management. SparkMeter says the offering will expand its market presence across Africa and Asia while opening opportunities for distribution utilities globally to improve financial and environmental sustainability. Led by co-founder and CEO Dan Schnitzer, the company recently completed a $12M Series A.

Participated · Series A · Jun 2019

MAX operates a full-stack electric mobility and fintech business that supplies electric two- and three-wheelers to commercial drivers—called "Champions"—through a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) financing model. The company combines vehicle sales/financing, battery-swapping stations, and proprietary IoT-enabled fleet management software to monitor vehicle health and driver payments. MAX assembles locally with production capacity of about 3,600 units per month and reports profitability in Nigeria. It is pursuing expansion into Ghana and Cameroon and aims to reach 250,000 drivers by 2027. To fund growth of its capital-intensive fleet and infrastructure, MAX is adopting an asset-backed lending structure and has begun attracting institutional debt such as the $8M facility from Triple Jump, following a prior $24M mixed equity and debt round that included Equitane DMCC and Novastar. The company faces regional competitors like Spiro and Ampersand but emphasizes deep integration of finance, hardware, and software as its differentiator.

Participated · Grant · Jan 2017

d.light designs and distributes solar-powered household products and offers PayGo consumer finance to make them affordable to low-income, off-grid households. The company uses securitized receivables financing to scale distribution and fund its PayGo offering across sub-Saharan Africa. The new multi-currency facility will purchase $176 million of receivables in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and is intended to enable access to renewable energy for an estimated six million people over the next three years. With this facility, d.light has a combined securitized financing purchasing value of $718 million across five facilities since 2020, including two in Kenya, one in Nigeria and one in Tanzania. Management says these receivables-based facilities let d.light remain consistently cash-flow positive and remove the requirement for further external equity fundraising. Earlier this year its $110 million Brighter Life Kenya 1 facility fully repaid senior debt ahead of schedule from internally generated cash flows — a first in the off-grid solar sector. d.light designs and sells solar-powered home systems and other essential solar household products, paired with a Pay‑Go personal finance service to make units affordable for low-income customers. Founded in 2007, the company launched its first solar product in 2008 and expanded into markets including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Nigeria, where it began operations in 2022. d.light says it has sold nearly 30 million products, affecting over 150 million people, and aims to reach a billion people in developing countries by 2030. The company reported a 41% revenue surge in the first half of 2023, primarily driven by its Nigerian operations. d.light has also used securitised finance in other sub‑Saharan markets to raise capital for off‑grid solar and is applying that experience to scale in Nigeria. d.light sells affordable household solar products and provides low-cost Pay-Go financing to low-income families, offering items such as solar lanterns, solar home systems, TVs, radios, and smartphones. The company has sold nearly 30 million products globally. It operates a finance model that leverages customer payments for solar purchases to raise capital and expand market share. d.light plans to scale its Pay-Go personal finance service in Tanzania using the new securitization capital. The company maintains an office in Arusha City, Tanzania, employing over 50 full-time staff to support local operations and the finance facility. d.light is a global for-profit social enterprise that manufactures and distributes solar lighting and power products designed to serve the more than 2 billion people without reliable electricity. Founded in 2007 by Ned Tozun, the company has sold 19 million solar products and operates a distribution network of over 15,000 retail outlets. In 2016 d.light launched a fully integrated Pay-Go solar home system and d.light Atlas, a proprietary back-end payment management system. The company has offices in San Francisco, Nairobi and New Delhi. d.light raised $50m in debt financing from the European Investment Bank, responsAbility Investments, Social Investment Managers & Advisors (SIMA), SunFunder and another mission-aligned investor. It intends to use the funds to continue scaling globally, launch new appliances and solar home system offerings, and provide financed Pay-As-You-Go solar home systems to additional customers in existing and new markets. d.light is an off‑grid solar solutions company that sells solar light and power products and operates in 62 countries across Africa and Asia. Founded in 2007 and led by CEO Ned Tozun, the company is based in San Francisco, Nairobi and New Delhi. It uses Pay‑as‑you‑Go (PayGo) financing to reach low‑income families and aims to serve the more than 2 billion people globally without reliable electricity. d.light recently raised an additional $10.5m comprising $5m in equity from Norfund and $5.5m in grants from Beyond the Grid and the Shell Foundation. Prior to this, the company raised $22.5m in a Series D and $7.5m in debt financing. The new funds will be used to expand operations and bring clean off‑grid power to more low‑income households in Africa and Asia.