Led · Debt Financing · Jun 2024

Stride provides financing solutions that let households and SMEs pay for rooftop solar installations through flexible payment plans instead of large upfront costs. The company operates in Vietnam and targets rapid adoption of residential and commercial rooftop solar, leveraging a network of installers and digital project-management tools. Following the $15 million Series B led by Lightrock and TRIREC’s Accelerate7, with participation from Clime Capital and UOB Venture Management, Stride plans to scale operations domestically and expand across Southeast Asia. It will deploy capital to expand its installer network, improve digital tools for project management, and uphold quality-control standards across projects. The company’s growth strategy aligns with rising rooftop solar capacity in Vietnam and increased investor interest in decentralized clean-energy finance.

Led · Equity · Oct 2020

Easy Solar sells small solar lanterns, mobile-charging devices, pico solar home systems (including televisions and fans), clean cooking devices and pay-as-you-go smartphones through an extensive network of agents and shops. The company uses flexible financing options empowered by pay-as-you-go technology and mobile money to make products affordable for users. To date it has made energy services available to more than 450,000 residents in Sierra Leone and Liberia and has created over 600 employment opportunities in the clean energy sector. Easy Solar designs products for residential, industrial and commercial users and can deliver larger customized solutions in the kW and mW range. The startup plans further expansion across West Africa while continuing to deepen its presence and distribution in Liberia and Sierra Leone. The recent funding will assist the company in expanding its current offering of services and reaching off-grid residents. Easy Solar (Azimuth) offers rent-to-own, pay-as-you-go solar products including pico-lanterns and solar home systems to underserved, off-grid customers in Sierra Leone. The company operates an online platform that tracks payments and empowers field agents, and it has adapted pay-as-you-go to a market with virtually no mobile money by pioneering cash-payment workflows. Easy Solar has built a brand based on trust and customer service to overcome distribution and collection challenges in rural communities. Operating since 2016, the business has grown from under 500 customers in early 2017 to more than 7,000 today. The team says it aims to scale access to clean energy alongside Sierra Leone’s nationwide energy-access commitments and to become a major employer in the country.

Participated · Debt Financing · Jan 2018

Azuri Technologies supplies PayGo solar home systems that provide lighting, phone charging and small appliances to rural off-grid households. The company leverages solar and mobile technology and says it has the widest reach of any provider across East and West Africa, serving users in 12 countries. Azuri is headquartered in Cambridge, U.K., with regional offices in Nairobi and Lagos. To scale deployment it relies on commercial debt finance to build equipment and expand installations. Over the last nine months Azuri has worked with Energise Africa and Lendahand Ethex to access crowd finance, raising funds that have enabled it to deliver power to roughly 16,000 households. The partnership aims to combine social and environmental impact with potential investor returns. Azuri supplies PayGo solar systems and related services across sub-Saharan Africa, and has introduced an award-winning satellite-TV solution as part of its product lineup. The company is focused on expanding off-grid energy and service provision in East Africa, targeting markets such as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. To fund growth, Azuri launched an innovative $20 million off-balance-sheet debt financing program to provide working capital, with phased deployment during 2018. The first phase of $4 million has been concluded and will be deployed in Kenya to enable supply of PayGo systems to tens of thousands more households. Azuri leverages a strong track record of customer repayments and detailed customer data to secure commercial debt against future customer revenues. The financing structure is intended to attract a consortium of new commercial lenders and impact investors to scale the off-grid sector. Azuri Technologies sells solar home systems and PayGo solar appliances to bring clean electricity to off-grid households through local partners. The company’s partner Raj Ushanga House will deploy 1,200 Azuri Solar Home Systems under the funded project, expected to reach roughly 6,000 people. Azuri used a TRINE crowd-investment campaign to secure debt finance reported as KES 17m (also reported as €160k). The transaction was one of the fastest on TRINE to hit its original fundraising target and received TRINE’s first “A” level risk rating. Management and partners say plans are advanced for successor campaigns to continue scaling deployments. Azuri’s partnership with Raj Ushanga House has been in place for a couple of years and the partners plan to scale customer reach for basic energy products and appliances such as PayGo Solar TV. Azuri Technologies designs and manufactures PayGo solar home systems that allow users to pay for solar power on a pay-as-you-go basis via mobile phones. The company focuses on deploying systems in sub-Saharan Africa to serve populations without reliable grid access. A $5m revolving debt facility with Standard Chartered Bank will finance manufacturing of stock for distribution partners, enabling product build before shipping and reducing the need to tie up working capital in inventory. The facility is described in the article as the first of its type for the growing off-grid solar market and aims to accelerate Azuri's growth and leverage new and existing opportunities. Since 2011 Azuri has sold about 90,000 solar home systems, reaching approximately half a million people. The article is datelined Cambridge, England, and includes comments from CEO Simon Bransfield-Garth on the importance of innovative debt finance mechanisms.