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Pawame, a UAE-based off-grid solar start-up has secured a funding of $2.5 million as it looks to expand further into sub-Saharan Africa.
The funding composes of $1.7 million in grant commitments and $750,000 in equity, including $250,000 from Launch Africa, an African fund that invests in the continent.
The company, which finances and distributes solar home systems, also announced that it is now launching its $5 million series A funding round to further boost its growth.
Pawame offers the solar home systems in remote areas of Kenya on a micro-finance, using mobile money repayment.
The start-up is also planning to extend its product range to other life enhancing products, including income-generating appliances such as water tanks, solar water pumps and solar refrigerators. These will empower many families in rural areas to start their own business and enable farmers to extend the life of their crops.
Maurice Parets, CEO of Pawame, said, “Energy is just the beginning, supplanting dirty kerosene lamps, our solar products help protect as well as change the lives of off-grid families. The funds from our Series A equity round will allow us to accelerate our growth by delivering a broader array of life-changing products to more families in more of Kenya and, eventually, to other parts of Africa.”
Pawame has received grants and funding from all over the world, including the SDG7 Results Grant was received from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency and the flagship World Bank-funded Kenya Off-Grid Solar Access Project (KOSAP).
Its current investors are primarily GCC based, with its largest shareholder being senior executives from the largest power utility companies of the Middle East as well as Launch Africa VC.
(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Seban Scaria)
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