West African startup receives over $1-million in funding

Energy+, a Malian-owned startup has received more than $1-million in funding from a consortium of financing partners.

The funding includes equity and fully funded enterprise development services (EDS) from VentureBuilder, which led the round, debt from Cordaid Investment Management (Cordaid), and grant financing from the United States African Development Foundation (USADF).

Energy+ has bagged over $1-million in funding

The funding provided will enable Energy+ to scale its off-grid business throughout the country with the expansion of its ‘pay-as-you-go’ and cash sales offering available through its retail network.

This large investment funding will allow the innovative and sustainable tech startup to further enhance its services to underserved areas of the country.

Simballa Sylla, CEO of Energy+ explains how the startup intends to utilise the new source of financing.

“In countries such as ours, pay-as-you-go is the best way to bring quality solar home systems to off-grid areas because it makes energy access easy and affordable. With the help of VentureBuilder, Cordaid, and USADF, we will be in a position to transition, in a strategic manner, from a producer of small electrical batteries to a large scale distributor of high-quality solar products.”

Not only will the funding help to expands the startup’s services but it will also provide job opportunities for Malian’s contributing to the local economy as pointed out by Hann Verheijen, Managing Director of Cordaid.

“Energy+ is an exciting addition to our growing Malian SME portfolio. Energy+ will create jobs and bring clean energy where it is most needed, and the experienced promoters have shown that they can deliver despite a very challenging market. We look forward to a long-term partnership with Energy+ to finance their continuing growth, and in doing so meet our social impact ambitions in Mali and the region.”

Energy+

Founded in May 2017, Energy+ is an off-grid solar company that focuses on providing affordable and reliable energy to households began operations in 2019.

To date, the startup claims to have sold thousands of d.light off-grid solar products in Mali through its easy-to-use pay-as-you-go and cash system. Funding will be allocated to develop the digitisation of this service catering directly to Energy+ customers.

With reports indicating that Mali is one of the most densely populated nations in West Africa, with 60% of its population of 20-million still living without access to modern electricity services, Energy+ provides a much-needed service to the country.

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Featured image: Energy+ (Supplied)