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Bridging the funding gap for early stage off-grid energy companies to scale modern energy cooking services

IATI Identifier: US-EIN-134166228-GB-GOV-1-300123-101-Acumen-MECS

Published on IATI
  • date_range Mar 01, 2020 - Sep 30, 2023
  • autorenew Implementation (Status)

Over the last 19 years of investing, Acumen has seen that few investors are willing to provide financing in the earlier stages in the emerging markets where poverty is most acute. The majority of investors prefer to invest in the later stages, once commercial viability is proven and conditions for sustainable scaling are present. This is especially true in the cooking sector. According to SEforAll, an annual investment of USD 4.4 billion is required to close gaps in access to clean cooking, yet only USD 32 million in finance commitments for clean cooking solutions were tracked—representing less than 1 percent of the estimated finance required for universal clean cooking access by 2030. Without the additional infusion of capital, clean cooking markets are unlikely to develop, scale, and fulfil their role in helping serve the 2.8 billion people (IEA,2017) who do not have access to clean cooking facilities. Acumen supports Modern Energy Cooking Services (MECS) and their aim to investigate how to rapidly accelerate a transition from biomass to genuinely ‘clean’ electric or gas cooking. MECS works to support the research and development necessary to get e-cooking appliances to a place where they are both affordable and reliable for low-income households in Africa. Yet innovations in financing and distribution at the nexus of e-cooking, and solar home system (SHS) and mini-grid business models will be necessary for these solutions to scale. Not only will strong coordination across business models be required, but it will be necessary to understand what type of capital is needed, how best to crowd in additional leverage and manage risk. In partnership with MECS, this grant will enable Acumen to support its current investees who are already exploring or piloting modern cooking solutions as part of their product suite.

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Sectors:

Participating Organisations

Loughborough University Academic, Training and Research Accountable
UK - Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Government Funding

Transaction

Transaction Value Provider
Receiver
Type Date
345,543 GBP Provider N/A Receiver N/A Commitment
date_range Sep 30, 2021
400,000 GBP Provider N/A Receiver N/A Incoming Funds
date_range Mar 01, 2021
350,000 GBP Provider N/A Receiver N/A Incoming Funds
date_range Sep 14, 2020
400,000 GBP Provider N/A Receiver N/A Incoming Funds
date_range Feb 29, 2020

Budget

3,037,230 USD
  • 400,000 GBP (Valued at Mar 01, 2020)
    date_range Mar 01, 2020 - Mar 31, 2020
  • 800,000 GBP (Valued at Apr 01, 2020)
    date_range Apr 01, 2020 - Mar 31, 2021
  • 250,000 GBP (Valued at Sep 01, 2021)
    date_range Apr 01, 2021 - Mar 31, 2022
  • 50,000 GBP (Valued at Jun 01, 2022)
    date_range Apr 01, 2022 - Mar 31, 2023
  • 442,378 GBP (Valued at May 31, 2021)
    date_range Apr 01, 2020 - Mar 31, 2021
  • 362,079 GBP (Valued at Mar 31, 2021)
    date_range Apr 01, 2021 - Mar 31, 2022
access_time Updated on Feb 16, 2024 14:54:17