d.light, the African startup that offers solar power solutions for low-income households in East Africa has closed a new USD$176 million securitized finance facility.
The new financing deal was led by asset management company African Frontier Capital.
With this new facility, d.light has now closed securitized financing with a total combined purchasing value of USD$718 million across five separate facilities since 2020.
The company plans to use the new funding to support and expand its PayGo consumer finance service in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
The facility is multi-currency and will enable access to reliable, renewable energy for an estimated six million people across the three countries over the next three years.
“This new facility is another landmark step in d.light’s mission to provide people with affordable energy that is also clean, safe and sustainable. It lets us expand our reach so that millions of off-grid families across Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda can experience the benefits of solar energy.” d.light CEO Nedjip Tozun said.
“Facilities like this make possible our pioneering PayGo consumer financing model with which we are able to offer solar home systems and high efficiency appliances to the people that need them most in a way that is affordable and sustainable.”
d.light has a proven track record in the use of securitized finance to support its solar-powered household products in sub-Saharan Africa. It has previously set up four facilities, beginning in 2020 and including two in Kenya and one each in Nigeria and Tanzania. The combined purchasing value of these existing facilities plus the new facility is USD$718 million.
Earlier this year, in February, d.light announced that its USD$110 million securitization facility, Brighter Life Kenya 1 Limited (BLK1) successfully repaid its entire senior debt in full and ahead of schedule from internally generated cash flows – the first facility in the off-grid solar sector to do so.
The company has been working with distribution partners in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania since 2010, and has had its own operations in Kenya since 2011, in Uganda since 2015 and in Tanzania since 2016.
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