Albedo Solar is lowering small businesses’ high electricity costs by helping them switch to solar power. The Guatemalan company designs solar proposals based on a business’s current electricity costs. Customers pay 10% of the installation fee up front. The remaining payments are staggered over three to four years. The company estimates it can help its customers, many of them women-led businesses and nonprofits, save 90% on their energy costs in the long term.
Costa Rica-based Atta Impact Capital invested in Albedo to provide “accessible [renewables] financing solutions where no one else has done so before” in the country, said Atta’s Abigail Napsuciale.
Place-based investing
Atta cuts checks for early stage impact ventures in Mexico and Central America. It launched its first fund, Mesoamerican Catalytic Fund I, last year, with $1 million in recoverable grants from IDB Lab and Costa Rican nonprofit Fundacion CRUSA. Its portfolio includes Rutopía, a Mexico-based sustainable tourism company that focuses on Indigenous and rural communities, and El Salvador’s Vitrinnea, an e-commerce platform for pre-owned clothes, decor and electronics.
