Azuri Technologies, a PayGo solar products and services provider has raised $20 million in an off-balance-sheet debt financing program to provide working capital for the expansion of off-grid energy and service provision in East Africa.
The program will be deployed in phases during 2018. The first phase of $4 million, which has already been concluded, includes investments from the European Union program ElectriFI, alongside Azuri, and its investment partners, including impact investment platform TRINE.
According to Azuri’s CEO, Simon Bransfield-Garth: “Completing the first phase of our receivables financing program is a major step for Azuri. The support of ElectriFI is a great vote of confidence in the opportunity in the African off-grid home solar sector as a whole, and in Azuri in particular. It will enable us to attract a new set of commercial investors to expand the impact of our work.”
Azuri will use the funds to provide to supply its PayGo solar systems, including its new award-winning satellite-TV solution, and future product solutions, to tens of thousands more households in Kenya then expand the program to Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
The PayGo sector is growing rapidly and its continued expansion requires access to substantial levels of commercial debt capital. The Azuri financing program allows commercial debt to be raised and secured against the future revenues of Azuri customers. This has been made possible by the strong track record of customer repayments for Azuri’s PayGo products.
It also provides confidence to debt investors who are able to use Azuri’s detailed customer data to ensure the finance is duly deployed to intended customers and that customer receipts are appropriately secured. The multi-phase debt program will enable Azuri to work with a consortium of new sophisticated lenders to support expansion the sector.
