The AfricaGoGreen Fund (AGG), a fund managed by Cygnum Capital Asset Management, has invested $10 million in leading fintech platform M-KOPA. The transaction was closed in December 2023, with AGG investing $8 million in M-KOPA Kenya and $2 million in M-KOPA Uganda.
Through its flexible digital credit model, M-KOPA provides underbanked customers access to productive assets. Customers pay an initial deposit, followed by daily or weekly micropayments enabled by Internet-of-Things (“IoT”) technology. M-KOPA’s flexible credit model allows individuals to pay a small deposit and get instant access to everyday essentials, including smartphones, electric motorcycles and solar power systems, and then graduate to digital financial services such as loans and health insurance. M-KOPA’s operations started in East Africa and successfully expanded to Nigeria in 2021 and, more recently,
Ghana.Through AGG's investment, M-KOPA will increase the number of underbanked customers it serves throughout Sub-Saharan Africa and advance environmentally friendly technologies with potential to lower energy costs for both homes and businesses. AGG’s investment is targeted towards growing M-KOPA’s electric vehicles (EVs) and clean cooking product offering in both Kenya and Uganda.
Jesse Moore, CEO and Co-founder of M-KOPA said:
"At M-KOPA, we are working hard to create a positive environmental and social impact by systematically addressing the barriers to digital financial services. Solar energy was just the beginning and Kenya was just the start. We are very proud of our achievements of unlocking $1bn in cumulative credit to over 3 million customers and are proud of the thousands of local jobs we’ve created during tough economic times. Having the support of AGG who share our vision and mission is important to us and we look forward to the impact we will have on growing our sustainable product offerings in Kenya and Uganda”
Farai Sekeso, Executive Director at Cygnum Capital said:
"We are genuinely thrilled about this relationship with M-KOPA, which advances the Fund's goal of supporting businesses and projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions which in the case of M-KOPA is through supporting the growth of its EV and clean cooking product offering in Kenya and Uganda. We are delighted to support M-KOPA’s drive towards creating a positive environmental and social impact by systematically addressing the barriers to digital financial services.”
About M-KOPA
Founded in 2011, M-KOPA is a fintech platform that provides digital financial services to underbanked consumers by leveraging data to combine digital micropayments with the Internet of Things [IoT] technology. With operations in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, and Ghana, M-KOPA’s platform has provided over $1 billion in financing and enabled 3 million customers to access smartphones, solar power systems, digital loans and health insurance. The company directly employs nearly 2,000 people across Africa and has created over 10,000 roles for sales agents since the start of 2020.
About Africa Go Green Fund.
AGG (or the Fund) was established in 2020 by KFW, on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to promote private investments that mitigate or reduce the emission of Green House Gases (GHG). The Fund currently has total committed capital of USD 138 million from investors that include KFW on behalf of BMZ, International Finance Corporation, African Development Bank, Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, Nordic Development Fund, and Calvert Impact Capital. The Fund also has a Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) of USD 3.4 million financed by KfW on behalf of BMZ. The Fund has a pan-African focus and will prioritise investments in Compact with Africa countries in West Africa.
About Cygnum Capital (formerly Lion’s Head Group)
Cygnum Capital is an investment bank and asset manager, operating across frontier and emerging markets. Cygnum Capital Asset Management manages five pioneering funds: 4 debt funds including (i) the African Local Currency Bond Fund (“ALCBF”), a ground-breaking investment vehicle established to support local currency capital markets, (ii) the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (“OGEF”) which supports companies in off grid energy such as SHS and small - medium Mini-Grids, (iii) the Facility for Energy Inclusion (“FEI”) which supports companies that provide a range of renewable energy solutions such as medium - large Mini-Grids, C&I and IPP with a maximum capacity of 25 MW, and (iv) the AfricaGoGreen (“AGG”) Fund which supports companies combating climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels through new technologies and that increase energy efficiency; and a VC Private equity fund (v) E3 LCEF which invests in climate-smart services, digital connectivity & Applications, low-carbon productivity enablers. Cygnum Capital Asset Management has over US$750 million of assets under management with investments in 27 African countries.
