BBOXX’s E.Africa Business Raises USD 31 Mn From AIIM
London-headquartered solar firm BBOXX has raised USD 31 Mn in private equity from Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), under the auspices of financier’s AIIF3 fund.
The African electric sector has hurdles stacked up against it. While giving AIIM a minority stake in return for the investment, BBOXX will be using the funds to scale its solar operations in Rwanda, Kenya, and the DRC. The firm is supposedly expected to intervene in the continent’s powering problem by installing 2 million solar systems. This goal, intended to be achieved by 2022, will literally brighten up the lives of 10 million people in the said African countries.
BBOXX’s solar systems are a technical amalgam of solar panels and batteries which are acquirable on a pay-as-you-go basis, whose roll-out the recent fundraising is expected to accelerate.
This isn’t the startup’s first solar stride in Africa. It raised a reported USD 5.1 million in 2018 through a combination of equity crowdfunding and debt financing for the expansion of its products across African countries. The company reports that it has so far illuminated the lives of 750,000 frontier market people, with significant activities in Nigeria, Togo, Pakistan, and the aforementioned trio.
On the AIIM arm of this development, the investment is the private equity investor’s most recent in a deal series that has seen BBOXX grow formidable relationships with industry insiders. The deal has facilitated collaboration with Togo-based electricity distribution company EDF, Orange and investment institutions as well as local governments for across-scale energy expansion.
Thanks to the firm’s partnership with Bamboo Capital last year, BEAM was launched for the initial deployment of USD 50 Mn in equity for distributed energy service companies (DESCOs). The collaboration unlocked further debt capital in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
2018, BBOX embarked on a 2.5 million pound crowdfunding scheme in bid to bring affordable power to Rwanda, Togo, and Nigeria. The project which was done in collaboration with Lendahand Ethex, was facilitated through the British off-grid solar power specialist’s Energise Africa partnership. The aim to was to generate 5 percent tax-free annual return investors over 36 months. Energise Africa, as advertised was contrived to make bring ease and straightforwardness into retail investing, affording eligible participants the opportunity to invest in solar businesses and get ROIs.
AIIM has sort of been a stake acquirer over the past years. The investment group bought a majority stake in nine South African renewable energy projects under a government’s incurement program. Via its IDEAS Managed Fund, it raked in 50.1 percent stakes each in Waterloo, Droogfontein II, Zeerust, Greefspan, Bokamoso, and De Wildt. Stakes were also gotten from the Roggeveld, Perdekraal, and Kaganas wind farm projects. All nine projects are expected to fully operate by 2020 and cumulatively expected to provide added 800 MW of renewable energy capacity into S.A’s power grid.
The AIIF3 has also been active in the SEGAP 50 percent stake acquisition, in July 2018. Societe d’Exploitation et de Gestion Aéroportuaires is a holding company with established portfolio in West and Central Africa. A 44 percent stake was also acquired by the fund in Mali-based renewable farm Albatros Energy. With Mali’s ranking as the 25th poorest country and 25.6 percent of its more than 17 million people accessing electricity, the 2017 deal proves that the AIIF3 is bringing power to Africa.
BBOX’s, which is a 2010-founded company; the contrivance of Mansoor Humayun, has now raised a little over USD 100 Mn in debts and awards. AIIM, an Old Mutual Alternative Investments member, has USD 2.1 Bn assets across power, telecoms and transport sectors. It has 15 operations across East, West and Southern Africa.
Featured Image: Innov8tiv
