Acumen’s KawiSafi Ventures has announced that it has raised $70 million for-profit fund through Acumen Capital Partners. The fund will be used to accelerate clean energy solutions in Africa.
KawiSafi Ventures aims to deliver clean, affordable energy to 10 million people and displace more than one million tons of carbon dioxide in the next 10 years, to address energy poverty and help avert the current climate crisis. To date, KawiSafi has invested $21 million to impact 4.3 million people and avert 360 thousand tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
“Acumen’s investing experience has shown us that Africa has a unique opportunity to solve its energy problem,” said Jacqueline Novogratz, Founder and CEO of Acumen.
“We created KawiSafi to prove that renewable, off-grid energy can be a faster, cheaper and cleaner way to electrify the continent. By building scalable solutions that can bring power to low-income communities that have lived without electricity for too long, we can create a seismic shift in off-grid energy, releasing immense levels of human productivity and minimizing the impact on the environment. Given that Africa’s population is expected to nearly double by 2030, a clean energy strategy is good not just for the continent but for everyone.”
The fund maintains Acumen’s values and impact-focused approach to investing but aims to deliver market-competitive returns by making larger, more significant investments in high-growth companies with proven business models.
In 2017, Acumen started to build #KawiSafi Ventures, our first for-profit fund designed to accelerate the scale of off-grid energy companies, including those in our patient capital portfolio. https://t.co/ZwlSYLr3iz pic.twitter.com/PMXBYvFS9d
— Acumen (@Acumen) April 17, 2019
Some of KawiSafi’s early supporters include anchor investor the Green Climate Fund along with Steve Jurvetson, Chris Anderson and the Skoll Foundation. Acumen, as a sponsor, holds an equity interest in the fund.
“The energy landscape has changed drastically in the last decade, and we have seen proven, profitable businesses emerge that are already transforming how low-income people access electricity,” said KawiSafi’s Managing Director Amar Inamdar. “These companies need early-growth capital to scale so they meet customer demand and drive innovation in a rapidly evolving ecosystem. KawiSafi will fill critical market gaps to create a sustainable, off-grid ecosystem, supporting countries to realize their UN Sustainable Development Goal of universal energy access.”
KawiSafi is managed by Acumen Capital Partners LLC, an Acumen-owned subsidiary that structures and manages funds investing in social enterprises poised to scale to transform the lives of low-income people everywhere and solve some of poverty’s greatest challenges. Acumen Capital Partners leverages Acumen’s nearly 20 years of investing in the world’s toughest, most underdeveloped markets to address critical capital gaps for social enterprises on their journey to scale.
