BEAM Investment platform is to put $50million into scaling up energy access for sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
The platform will give access to energy to potential millions across some of the hardest to reach regions of the world.
The project is part of an idea put forward by equity firm Bamboo Capital Partners and BBOXX, a utility company.
Jean-Philippe de Schrevel, founder at Bamboo Capital Partners, said: “BEAM will catalyse substantial investment into off-grid energy access initiatives across the developing world. By drawing in and encouraging further capital via joint ventures, debt and co-investments, we have a bold and ambitious vision of providing millions more with access to energy to improve their everyday lives.
“The vision of BEAM is to grow and thereby unlock this multi-billion dollar market.
“Importantly, alongside a tried and tested strategy, BEAM already has considerable firepower to make investments in the coming year. We will now be executing our strategy so that in the long term we achieve Bamboo’s ultimate objective of delivering social and financial impact.”
The investment hopes to give access to developing nations without them having to invest millions in traditional grid infrastructure.
Mansoor Hamayun, chief executive officer of BBOXX, said: “BEAM solves two key market failures to scale DESCOs across the developing world – firstly, access to equity before debt becomes viable, and secondly it allows to drive disaggregation in what has been a vertical integrated model – both essential to scale.
“The BEAM model will allow to take our successful model in Rwanda and Kenya and expand it across Africa and Asia by solving a key financial challenge.
“We are excited by the prospect of partnering with Bamboo and the BEAM platform to power the growth of off-grid utilities across the developing world.”
