The deal with AIIM - Africa's largest infrastructure-focused private equity fund manager and a member of Old Mutual Alternative Investments with $2.1 billion AUM - will allow BBOXX to install two million solar systems by 2022, bringing electricity to 10 million people in these African countries.
This investment will accelerate the roll-out of BBOXX's solar systems which combine solar panels and batteries and are available on a pay-as-you-go basis via mobile money.
The funds will be applied across BBOXX's distribution mix, impacting a range of customers including households, schools and SMEs across rural, urban and peri-urban regions.
Mansoor Hamayun, CEO and co-founder of BBOXX, said, "This latest deal with AIIM shows BBOXX's commitment to mobilizing greater investment and capital in the off-grid sector, through partnering with major global companies.
"AIIM's investment will turbo-charge our operations in Rwanda, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This will allow us to scale rapidly and continue to drive disaggregation in what has traditionally been a vertically integrated market.”
Jurie Swart, CEO of Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers, added, "We are delighted to be working with BBOXX to expand off-grid solar electricity to millions of people previously without access to basic utilities. BBOXX shares our vision to remove barriers to economic growth and facilitate the development of Africa's economies.”
In addition, BBOXX announced today it is the winner of the Zayed Sustainability Prize in the Energy category. The announcement was made at an awards ceremony in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
The prize rewards innovators and visionaries whose achievements have furthered "the global proliferation of innovative, impactful and inspirational sustainability solutions" for more than a decade.
BBOXX was cited as being "a fast-growing company that has successfully deployed a plug and play solar device - the BBOXX - across a number of African countries, offering their customers an on-grid experience in an off-grid setting. The BBOXX model has already connected over 800,000 people with clean, affordable electricity for the first time, and enabled US$2.4 million in energy cost savings. BBOXX is reportedly connecting 3,000 new people daily and displacing nearly 87,000 tonnes of CO2 per year."
BBOXX was one of 10 winners in different categories including health, food, water and global high schools from more than 2,100 submissions. BBOXX also received $600,000.
