- d.light, focused on providing off-grid solar solutions, has closed a new securitisation multi-currency facility that will purchase $176 million of receivables in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
- The new financing, provided by asset management company African Frontier Capital, will be used to scale up its PayGo consumer finance offering to make solar-powered products available to more low-income households and communities who do not have access to electricity.
- The facility will enable six million people across the three countries to access reliable and renewable energy over the next three years.
Launched in 2007 by Ned Tozun, and Sam Goldman, d.light introduced its first solar product in 2008 and has since expanded to markets including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria. It plans to reach a billion people in developing countries by 2030 and claims to have sold nearly 30 million products, reaching over 150 million individuals.
This new funding comes after d.light, in February 2024, secured $7.4 million in securitised financing from Chapel Hill Denham's Nigeria Infrastructure Debt Fund and in August 2023 received a $30 million securitisation facility from the Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group).
In May 2024, d.light received a $3 million grant to provide 10,000 subsidised solar home systems to refugees in Northern and Western Uganda.
However, this new facility brings d.light’s securitised financing to a total combined purchasing value of $718 million across five separate facilities since 2020.
d.light CEO Ned Tozun emphasised that the new facility would provide people with affordable and sustainable energy and mentioned that it would also allow the firm to expand its reach to enable millions of off-grid families across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to experience the benefits of solar energy.
The CEO highlighted that facilities like this enable its pioneering PayGo consumer financing model.
“With this new facility, d.light has for the first time in its history receivables-based financing facilities in each of our PayGo markets – Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Nigeria. These facilities allow d.light to remain consistently cash flow positive and remove the requirement for further external equity fundraising to fund our growth,” the CEO concluded.
