News

2024 has been an exciting year for Persistent.  As we build our investment pipeline for our upcoming Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund (ACV Fund), we eagerly anticipate achieving the Fund's first close in 2025.

Altech, a pioneering solar and e-mobility company in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and its lead investor Persistent, announced that Persistent has made a further investment to finance Altech’s expansion of its e-mobility business. This investment aims to scale up Altech's operations, focusing on the launch of the first full-scale Altech e-Mobility Service Centers (EMSC) in Goma and the introduction of an improved fleet of e-motorcycles.

Persistent, Africa’s Climate Venture Builder, is excited to announce its latest investment in EcoNetix, an innovative global technology company that uses a digital measurement, reporting and verification process (dMRV) to bring back trust and transparency into the carbon market. The company uses a range of digital tools to monitor the progress and impact of its projects to ensure the integrity of carbon credit projects to verify the actual carbon captured or avoided. Econetix closes the financing gap that arises for the emerging countries through the devastating effects of climate change.

At Persistent, team bonding isn't just a gathering; it's a celebration of our shared journey as leading climate tech investors in Africa. Our diverse team came together in December 2023 to celebrate the end of another impactful year. In 2024, Our goal is to keep expanding climate tech investments across the African continent through what we do best - Identifying, Investing and building promising climate businesses through our venture building model. We hosted our annual team retreat in Naivasha, Kenya, surrounded by savannas, lakes and wildlife. This event brought together Persistent professionals from 12 nations, including esteemed partners and board members.

Persistent is pleased to announce that Toukam Ngoufanke has been promoted to Partner. Toukam has been with Persistent for over three years, most recently as Senior Principal and Venture Builder. In that role, he has driven our investing, portfolio management and Venture Building efforts across many of our partner companies in Sub-Saharan Africa. Notably, he has been at the forefront of our investments in the e-mobility sector and played a key role in building these companies. Toukam has also demonstrated leadership both within the firm and in the East African Climate investment community, mentoring other Persistent staff, speaking at industry events and acting as a resource for the community at large.

Having just finished our annual team retreat in Kenya, this is a good time for us to reflect on 2023. After an in-person Board meeting, our team and participating Directors and Observers participated in three days of meetings and workshops to review the year, plan for 2024, and strengthen our bonds with some fun activities. It was a great time that left us all more energized than ever.

Persistent held two, "Climate Connects," events as its contribution to the discussions and initiatives of the Africa Climate Summit (ACS23) and Africa Climate Week (ACW23). The events, held on the 6th and 7th of September brought together over 250 investors, industry stakeholders, partners as well as innovative startups and entrepreneurs to foster collaboration and innovation in the African climate sector.

Persistent is excited to announce that Jessica Stephens will be joining the firm as a Principal and Business Development Director. Jessica will join full time effective April 01, 2023. With over a decade of experience in the distributed energy sector, she brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the team.

We would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone who has been involved in an impactful and great year 2022 at Persistent. 

Persistent announced that it has sold 100% of its investment in Daystar Power of Nigeria a leading commercial and industrial (C&I) solar solution provider in West Africa. 

Persistent hosted its first Climate Venture Building Conference, in Nairobi on Thursday, October 26, 2022. The gathering involved over 130 participants from a wide range of organizations active in the climate positive sector in Africa: entrepreneurs, institutional investors, development finance institutions, consultants and experts in the field. The full day event was an example of Persistent’s commitment to have a collaborative approach to accelerate the development of the climate positive sectors, contributing to strengthen the venture ecosystem with knowledge sharing, webinars and publications. 

Beacon Power Services (BPS) provides data analytics and grid management solutions that enable utilities and Commercial and Industrial (C&I) customers to better manage their energy assets.

Following the successful first closing of the Series C equity round with $10 Million raised, Persistent is delighted to welcome two new members to its Board of Directors, strengthening the team with their diverse expertise in their respective fields.

New York, Nairobi, Tokyo: Today, Persistent Energy Capital LLC announced that it has raised USD 10M in equity in its Series C round. The raise, which was achieved with the support of two lead institutional investors, Kyuden International Corporation and FSD Africa Investments, will enable Persistent to continue to grow its successful climate venture building business in Africa.

Persistent is proud to announce Solar Taxi as a new partner company. Started in Ghana by Jorge Appiah in 2018, Solar Taxi is an e-mobility company with a vision to become the leading e-mobility product and services company in West Africa.

Persistent is proud to announce an investment in Hohm Energy - an online marketplace that streamlines the solar acquisition process for residential and commercial customers with a “one-stop shop”.

On April 7 Bloomberg published an article about the failures of the off grid solar industry. The article, entitled “Tesla Backed Startup Made Cheap Power a Debt Burden for the World’s Poorest” was written by David Kocieniewski and Gavin Finch. The article catalogs a series of missteps and seemingly predatory practices in the off grid solar industry in Africa that the authors claim harmed the World’s poorest. This is not our experience.

The Persistent team gathered in March for a team retreat held at the Brackenhurst center in Limuru, Kenya. Our 20 team members traveled from nine different countries to the idyllic location outside of Nairobi, to enjoy three days of team building, workshops and company insights, surrounded by pure nature and conservation forests.

Persistent is very pleased to share some insights on which African markets to consider investing in when it comes to e-mobility. Read the full publication 'A dozen markets and counting: The opportunity for Two Wheel e-Mobility in Sub Saharan Africa' and get some impactful facts.

We are excited to announce that our team keeps growing across Africa with the addition of five great professionals that bring new skills and their strong expertise in their respective fields.

Today Persistent announced an investment and partnership with Solstroem - a carbon offset platform for off-grid solar companies - accelerating access to energy. 

Two years after the launch of EEGF, let's take a look back at the work accomplished thus far, and the unique partnership between Triple Jump and Persistent.

FinDev Canada and its 2X Canada facility announced today a participation of up to US$ 13 million in Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund (EEGF). The Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund offers catalytic financing and technical assistance to early and growth-stage companies that increase access to clean, safe, dependable, and affordable energy for off-grid households and businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa.

It’s been another exciting year full of change at Persistent. We want to take the opportunity to wish you, your family, and colleagues a wonderful end of the year. Although we are all facing new challenges to achieve our goals, we hope you are also looking back on an impactful 2021.

We are excited to announce that Persistent together with Triple Jump B.V. and GreenMax Capital Advisors have been awarded a consortium to provide management services to the Clean Energy and Energy Inclusion for Africa Foundation. The mandate from KfW aims to support new ways to decentralize electricity supply in Sub-Saharan Africa through innovative approaches that include, supplying electricity independently of the power grid, offering financing via digital credit platforms, and providing clean electricity from renewable sources.

Today Persistent is proud to announce that Wairimu Karanja will become its Chief Legal Officer as of October 1, 2021. Wairimu will succeed Chris Aidun, assuming responsibility for all of Persistent’s legal and compliance matters.

This case study, led by Persistent Venture Builder Manuela Bock, takes a deeper look into the success story of Altech, the partnership with Persistent, its expansion and growth, their impact on the ground, and their vision for the future.

Altech officially closed an investment round consisting of over USD 10 million in debt and equity. While all investors have been impressed with Altech’s financial success to date, they were also driven by the impact investing in Altech will have on improving access to electricity in a country with one of the largest off-grid populations in the world.

Our profitability study Learnings from a Decade of Investing in Energy Access in Africa: Why Scale Is Not Everything, Profitability Is Here And Now Is The Time To Double Down is now available!

We are very excited to welcome three members to the newly established Persistent Advisory Board, Jacqueline Musiitwa, Rolake Akinkugbe-Filani, and Sebolelo Majozi Gebhart, who bring exceptional expertise, insight, and cross-African networks.

Persistent is happy to announce our follow-on investment in the Series B convertible round for our partner company candi, an innovative C&I solar developer, financier, and operator for companies in emerging markets.

Today Persistent announces a strategic venture building investment and partnership with Ecobodaa, a pioneer e-mobility startup, leading the revolution of the electric motorbike taxi (bodaboda) in Kenya.

Persistent Venture Builders Eva Stolz and Toukam Ngoufanke, supported the development of Power Africa’s Financial Modeling Tool for pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) Energy Access Companies and facilitated a series of webinars to demonstrate the tool’s features and share best practices for financial modeling.

It’s been an exciting year full of change at Persistent but looking ahead to 2021 we are anxiously anticipating a post-pandemic world full of opportunities for our existing partner companies and our prospects.

Despite the challenges of COVID-19 in 2020, Persistent has been very successful in supporting our partner companies, driving innovation in the e-mobility space, initiating a COVID relief fund for energy access companies, and managing to grow the great team already in place by adding exceptional new talent and existing team members taking on new responsibilities.

As a company envisioning a greener and fairer world, we see it as our responsibility to start at the very source – by reducing our own corporate carbon footprint as much as possible.

We are excited to share some news about the growth and evolution of our team since the beginning of the year.

For the past months, the Persistent team, led by intern Line Cottier has created two new impact publications, one on our Metrics, Challenges and Vision, and another about Lessons Learned in the Impact Investment Sector.

When we examine the off-grid energy sector, what are we seeing across our solar Pay-As-You-Go portfolio and the sector as a whole? Our observations cover demand for solar systems, customers’ ability to pay, production and supply chains, sales activity in times of social distancing, and investor attitudes toward providing funds.

Last month, several Persistent team members attended the Global Off-Grid Solar Forum and Expo in Nairobi, Kenya, participating in two panels, facilitating discussions and demonstrating their expertise and commitment to the sector.

Today Persistent Energy Capital LLC announced that it has raised over USD 8M in equity in 2019. The equity raise was in the form of Series B Preferred Units of ownership in Persistent, giving Series B holders a seat on the Board of Directors.

After several years committed to the growth and development of Persistent, Partner Rodrigo Weiss and CFO Fabio Eucalipto will transition to Persistent partner company candi, a platform that finances, builds and operates solar systems for SMEs in emerging markets.

As 2019 comes to a close, we are very excited to announce that we have successfully closed our Series B round, with additional investments from existing shareholders as well as the Persistent team.

Cameroon-based solar home systems business upOwa has successfully closed its Series A2 funding round with a EUR 2.5m investment.

With an initial close of US$45M, the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund will provide catalytic financing for early to growth stage companies in Sub-Saharan Africa operating in the access to energy ecosystem. Triple Jump, an Amsterdam based leading impact-focused investment manager, will act as portfolio manager and Persistent, a Zurich based venture and private equity firm with expertise in the off-grid sector, will serve as investment advisor to the fund.

During the 2019 GOGLA Annual General Meeting in Amsterdam, Persistent was elected as a new GOGLA board member and will also act as Treasurer for the board for the coming three years.

It has been over two weeks since Cyclone Idai hit Mozambique with a great deal of devastation and destruction to the region, although highly under-reported in the media. Initial government estimates indicate that 1.8 million people have been effected and hundreds of thousands have lost everything. Our partner company SolarWorks! has been working tirelessly to help in the wake of this catastrophe.

Daystar Power has announced a $10M investment from Verod Capital Management and Persistent Energy Capital LLC. They will use this investment to further accelerate its growth and expand its operations in Nigeria and Ghana.

We are pleased to announce that Catalyst has closed an equity financing round. Persistent has been the lead investor with support from Shell Foundation through their grant money contribution.

SunFunder has closed a $2m multi-currency debt facility with MFX Solutions and SolarWorks! B.V. to accelerate growth of off-grid energy in Mozambique. The financing is expected to directly impact the lives of 65,000 individuals and displace at least 26 tonnes of CO2 emissions!

Persistent and Gaia Impact Fund, two leading impact funds in energy access in emerging markets, have joined forces to provide early capital to candi’s innovative rooftop solar business focused on commercial and industrial (“C&I”) customers in Asia and Africa.

Persistent Energy Capital, an impact venture builder of off-grid energy companies in underserved markets, announced that it has deepened its relationship with Altech, a leading solar retailer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Last week EDP invested €2 million in SolarWorks! B.V., a leading pay-as-you-go (PAYG) company based in Mozambique. The investment is the result of a round of financing led by EDP Renováveis (an EDP Group subsidiary) in partnership with venture building firm Persistent Energy Capital LLC.

Today Persistent Energy Capital LLC announced a strategic investment and partnership with Zonful Energy, Zimbabwe’s fastest growing off-grid energy company. This will be Persistent’s fourth investment in a company launched in Africa by Africans.