About

Using electrical devices in off-grid communities comes with several challenges. Blackouts, poor performance, and products with low energy efficiency or a short life cycle are among the reasons that hinder efficient and affordable access to solar appliances. It was against this background that Amped Innovation started designing, manufacturing, and supplying its own affordable solar home systems and appliances to off-grid markets in Africa and Asia.

Present all over sub-Saharan Africa with an extensive network of B2B distributors, this social enterprise has so far reached over 150,000 end-users with different solar-powered products such as lighting, televisions, fridges, and power generators. Amped’s mission is to improve the affordability of high-quality solar appliances, for which energy efficiency is seen as the key to performance. As so, the company’s solar generator is considered the first viable clean alternative that out-competes the fuel generator on both performance and price, while its solar water pump and solar fridge were named to the Global LEAP awards finalists in 2019.

Beyond its products, the company also focuses on capacity-building for local distributors. Its Amplify Partner Program provides comprehensive training to all partners, including product and technical training, technical support, PAYGO integration, sales and marketing tools, among others.

Our support

In order to scale up its activities, Amped Innovation required working capital. Impressed by Amped’s sales traction to date, ElectriFI referred the company to the GET.invest Finance Catalyst to build an improved financial model that would capture the nuances of Amped’s business and project various growth scenarios.  ElectriFI would then use this model to structure an innovative new working capital facility for Amped.

The advisory started by conducting detailed due diligence to develop comprehension of Amped’s business such as terms received by its vendors and distributors, as well as aspects related to the manufacturing and inventory. Upon this basis, the GET.invest Finance Catalyst advisors built an effective financial model that could accurately reflect Amped’s business. Furthermore, the advisors then added an innovative working capital facility that decreased the risk to ElectriFI, while providing Amped with a lower interest rate.

This innovative working capital facility functions in a manner that working capital can only be drawn when Amped Innovation presents aggregated order, akin to invoice financing. In this way, ElectriFI does not take risk on Amped’s products market situation: if the company can sell its goods, then ElectriFI supports them with working capital.

Other services provided by GET.invest included revising and commenting on the due diligence documents such as policies and procedures, discussing the most favourable commercial aspects, and, subsequently, term sheet negotiations.

The outcome

In 2020, Amped Innovation and ElectriFI reached an initial funding agreement of €2.22 million. However, in 2021, with the support of the GET.invest Finance Catalyst, the company was able to double the funding agreement to a financial close of a €5.9 million revolving working capital facility – €3.9 million from ElectriFI’s global facility and €2 million from the initiative’s Nigeria Country Window. This working capital facility is the first such instrument ever offered by ElectriFI and is expected to provide solar home systems to more than 500,000 people in over 20 countries across Africa and Southeast Asia.

The GET.invest Finance Catalyst is now supporting Amped Innovation in raising €10 million for its series A2 round, a larger scale of financing that will allow the company to tackle its goals: growing its distribution network, its retail and microfinance partnerships, and its appliance portfolio. Throughout the next phases, the company plans to expand its team in key markets in Nigeria, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Burundi, and Madagascar.

Disclaimer: This story was last updated in October 2022.