KawiSafi Ventures invests in clean energy technologies and access in emerging markets. The Acumen subsidiary is looking to raise $200 million for its second fund, which is deepening its focus on women in the clean energy transition.
“We want to source a pipeline that has gender representation,” KawiSafi’s Amar Inamdar told ImpactAlpha.
Women-led or owned companies must make up 30% of the portfolio. The Nairobi-based fund manager is also earmarking $10 million for technical assistance to support gender inclusion across its portfolio.
The African Development Bank’s made a junior equity investment of $10 million in the fund from its $95 million Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, which aims to pull more private investment into clean energy. The investment follows an anchor investment last year from the Green Climate Fund.
Follow-on capital
Acumen launched KawiSafi in 2016 to make patient, growth-stage investments in Africa’s clean energy companies. It closed its $67 million first fund three years later; its portfolio includes early off-grid energy players like Bboxx and d.light.
“Our key learning from our first fund is we need more capital for follow up,” Inamdar said.
The firm has also seen more female entrepreneurs in the market raising capital, especially since a climate + gender event on the sidelines of last year’s Africa Climate Summit in Nairobi.
The fund will cut equity checks of up to $5 million for e-mobility, distributed renewables and batteries-as-a-service companies.
Gender accountability
In addition to the number of female entrepreneurs it backs, the fund will track the reach and benefits of portfolio companies’ products and services for women, the number of women employed and in management, and whether investees have gender-inclusive policies and procedures.
In partnership with Strathmore University in Nairobi, KawiSafi trains rural women in sales and development of solar products.
