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With 600 million Africans living without electricity, the start-up Yellow has been awarded $14 million to deploy its solar kits in several East African countries, particularly in rural areas. Yellow, an asset financier for solar energy and digital devices in Africa has raised this series B funding in a round led by Convergence Partners with participation from the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund, managed by Triple Jump, in addition to follow-on investment from Platform Investment Partners.
With 600 million Africans living without electricity, the start-up Yellow has been awarded $14 million to deploy its solar kits in several East African countries, particularly in rural areas. Yellow, an asset financier for solar energy and digital devices in Africa has raised this series B funding in a round led by Convergence Partners with participation from the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund, managed by Triple Jump, in addition to follow-on investment from Platform Investment Partners.
Yellow was founded and launched in Malawi in 2018 by Mike Heynik and Maya Stewart, to initially bring solar energy to the country, which is among those with the lowest access to electricity in the world. It has since grown its footprint across Africa and increased its product offering to include electronics like smartphones.
Following the new funding, Yellow plans to deepen its reach in its current markets Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Madagascar, launch digital and financial products in the near term, and prepare for future debt funding rounds to ramp up its growth. The new round brings the total debt and equity funding raised by Yellow to $45 million.
The company, which claims over 1,100 agents and more than 400,000 customers in its five markets, owes its popularity to its pay-as-you-go model and its smartphones. Its small solar home system consists of a 6W-10W panel, a 20-50Wh battery, a mobile phone charger, and a radio.
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Since its creation in 2018, the start-up has received technical and financial support from a number of partners. These include fund manager Lion’s Head and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Power Africa initiative. Just a few months ago, the solar solutions provider obtained a $5 million loan from Oikocredit, an impact investor based in Utrecht in the Netherlands. The funds were used to strengthen its activities in East Africa, particularly in Uganda, where only 44.5% of the population is connected to the national electricity grid, according to the World Bank.
