Ten years after starting operations in East Africa, Dutch company Zola Electric wants to explore other markets by developing next-generation hardware and software to provide permanent access to energy. The $90 million financing is a fair combination of loan and equity funding, each in the amount of $45 million. The equity was provided by TotalEnergies Ventures, DBL Partners, Helios Investment Partners, Vulcan Capital and Electron Capital Partners. Debt financing was provided by the lead lenders, Dutch development finance company FMO and SunFunder, two companies known for providing loans to solar energy companies in emerging markets.
The goal of the fundraising is to eventually provide energy access to 2.2 billion people and hundreds of thousands of private businesses around the world. Zola Electric offers smart batteries that run on any energy source, especially solar. Power systems are managed and monitored remotely through the company’s proprietary software and web application developed under the SAAS Vision brand.
Conquering Sub-Saharan Africa
Zola Electric plans to expand energy access in sub-Saharan Africa. With the funds obtained, the company led by Bill Lenihan plans to improve product development and commercial efforts. In particular, through Infinity, a product that, according to the company, can power any home or office device while being integrated with any power source. A product that works with power grids, solar panels and other power sources, for the African market.
Bill Lenihan, in an interview with TechCrunch, talks about “next-generation digital renewable energy.” He adds, “We need strong field staff, developers, integrators and distributors, people who can connect with the customer in the field, solve their problems, install the systems and maintain them.” More than 1.5 million users, concentrated in over 300,000 homes and businesses, use Zola products in several African countries: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Namibia, DRC, South Africa, Zambia and Nigeria with its solar home kits.solar home kits. Thanks to this new fundraising, the company expects to multiply these figures exponentially and increase its presence in sub-Saharan Africa.
Habib Tizi