Tanzania-based distributed electricity provider Zola Electric raised $90m in an equity and debt round led by oil and gas producer TotalEnergies’ corporate venturing arm, TotalEnergies Ventures, TechCrunch reported yesterday, citing a company statement.
The $45m equity portion was filled out by DBL Partners, Helios Investment Partners, Vulcan Capital, Electron Capital Partners and Lyndon and Peter Rive, co-founders of solar power system installer SolarCity.
Netherlands-based development bank FMO and Sunfunder provided the debt portion. The round brings the company’s total debt and equity financing to $273m.
Zola provides decentralised and off-grid electricity systems for communities in emerging markets with unreliable access to power. Its Infinity power system integrates with solar panels, batteries or the grid itself and manages power loads throughout the premises.
The company’s systems supply energy to more than 1.5 million users across 300,000 households and businesses across Ivory Coast, Namibia, Ghana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia.
Zola has also expanded its footprint into Brazil, the United States, Pakistan and the Philippines, and it has its eye on further expansion into South America, Asia and North America.
Industrial and power technology provider General Electric’s corporate venturing unit, GE Ventures, took part in Zola’s $55m series D round, which was led by Helios Investment Partners in 2018 and filled out by unnamed other existing investors.
Earlier Zola backers include TotalEnergies Ventures, SolarCity (since acquired by carmaker Tesla), Electranova Capital (sponsored by energy utility EDF) ,DBL Partners, Omidyar Network, Serious Change, Western Technology Investment, Vulcan Capital, Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, BWE-JV Investments, Givia, Jasmine Social Investments, Marshall Foundation, Mulago Foundation, Segal Family Foundation and The World We Want Foundation.
