Persistent Energy And Verod Capital Invests USD 10 Mn In West African Solar Solutions Firm Daystar Power
Persistent Energy Capital LLC in partnership with Verod Capital Management has invested USD 10 Mn in Daystar Power Africa, a leading team of experts and pioneer investors in the off-grid sector. In addition to the funding, Daystar Power has lined up USD 15 Mn in debt financing to accelerate its solar power expansion across the region for commercial and industrial customers.
Founded in 2017, Daystar Power leases and operates power solutions that integrate solar power and battery storage for commercial and industrial clients in Nigeria and Ghana. In the former West African country alone, more than USD 14 Bn is spent on a yearly basis to backup diesel generators used to supplement the apparently unreliable grid electrification.
The huge price tag attached to accessing stable power supply in West Africa is a major stumbling block stopping Nigerian businesses and enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa from growing to meet up with and fuel the region’s developing economy. In response to the pressing issue, Daystar Power solutions range from 20 kWp to 5 MWp, which all deliver up to 25 percent savings and almost 100 percent uptime while hamstringing the rate of carbon emissions from diesel generators.
Per a response to the recent funding, Daystar Chairman Christian Wessels said, “Within a short time, Daystar Power has forged strong energy partnerships with some of West Africa’s leading companies. With Verod Capital Management, one of West Africa’s leading private equity investors, and Persistent, a leading investor and venture builder in the off-grid sector, we have attracted two major investors who share our excitement for solar power for commercial and industrial customers in Africa.”
The narrative from Persistent Energy LCC reveals that the commercial and industrial segment presents a credible avenue to scale and profit in the off-grid sector. Persistent Partner Olu Verheijen said: “Daystar’s solutions enable companies to redirect significant power cost savings into business growth while reducing their carbon footprint. We are very excited to partner with Daystar Power to unleash sustainable economic growth in Nigeria.”
The 2012-founded firm was established with the idea that building a commercially successful business is the best approach to sustainable socio-economic impact in the underserved emerging markets. In addition to providing early-stage risk capital, Persistent Energy offers venture-building financial and operational management, capital raising and structuring, business analytics and the development of KPI tools.
Daystar who secured funding from Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH August last year, belongs to the venture builder Sunray Ventures of the German founders Christian Wessels and Jasper Graf von Hardenberg. Since inception, Daystar has installed almost 1MW of off-grid solar energy solutions to commercial and industrial customers across Nigeria and Ghana and will use this investment to further accelerate its growth and expand its operations in these countries.Looking good!
