Daystar Power, a West African solar energy company has raised EUR 500,000 round of debt investments via crowdfunding from Trine a Swedish investment platform to finance solar power systems in West Africa.
The move is expected to open up investments in Daystar Power’s solar power installations, previously limited to large-scale investors, to the wider public.
According to Christian Wessels, Executive Chairman of Daystar Power: “We are excited about our partnership with Trine, as it will allow a new class of investors to invest in our solar power plants in West Africa. In Trine we have found a partner who is as passionate about impact investing and solar power as we are.”
This financing round allows individuals and companies to invest in Daystar Power’s projects with a minimum investment amount of EUR 25.
Traditionally, investments in solar power plants in Africa have been reserved for large institutional investors. Trine and Daystar Power are changing this, by enabling individuals and companies to participate in financing the expansion of solar power. The current financing round will help Daystar Power expand its footprint of installations from Ghana and Nigeria to Togo and Senegal.
Christoffer Falsen, CFO and co-founder of Trine: “We are happy that with Daystar Power, we have found our first partner company which is active in the commercial and industrial space of solar power. We are confident that through our loans, Daystar Power will be able to make significant contributions to protecting the environment and fostering local job creation.”
Daystar Power focusses on medium and small-scale solar systems (20kWp to 5 MWp). The plants are either sold or made available to customers in a service fee model. Sunray Ventures and their owners Christian Wessels and Jasper Graf von Hardenberg founded Daystar Power in 2017. Trine investors have injected €19 million into 27 different companies and have been repaid €2.8 million to date.
