- BURN, a Kenyan clean cooking appliance manufacturer, has signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) for a $15 million investment to fund the distribution of its ECOA Electric Induction Cooker to households across the East African region.
- The EIB financing will allow the appliances to be sold through BURN's Pay-As-You-Cook payment plan, a technology-enabled payment solution offering financing to households that cannot afford full upfront payments.
BURN, headquartered in Kenya, operates in nine countries and employs over 3,500 people. The ECOA Induction Cooker has a three-piece stainless steel induction cookware set entirely manufactured in Kenya. The appliance is designed to reduce indoor air pollution, decrease cooking time, and save households money on cooking fuels. To date, BURN claims to have distributed over five million clean cookstoves in Africa.
BURN's electric and biomass stoves aim to address the challenges associated with using traditional cooking fuels such as firewood or charcoal, which can cause health, environmental, and economic problems, among other things.
Peter Scott, Founder and CEO of BURN, highlighted that the company has already launched its Pay-As-You-Cook (PAYC) electric cooking solution in Kenya and Tanzania. He noted that the EIB investment will help BURN transition over a million low-income households to cooking with electricity, allowing them to cook on grids that are 80-95% powered by renewable energy.
The investment from the EIB comes almost a month after BURN announced it had secured $9.2 million in funding from Marex to help finance the production, distribution, and monitoring of clean cooking appliances across several African countries.
At the time, BURN said that the funding from Marex brought Key Carbon’s investment in BURN’s carbon credit projects to $45 million across eight African countries.
In April 2024, BURN received over $12 million in funding led by Key Carbon Ltd. and backed by Cartesian to help BURN distribute electric cookstoves in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as biomass stoves in Nigeria, DRC, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
In Q2 2024, BURN announced the launch of its first assembly plant in Kano, Nigeria, to bolster access to affordable clean cooking appliances for households in the country.
