Azuri Technologies is delighted to announce that a TRINE crowdfunding project to bring clean energy to an estimated six thousand people in Kenya has been successfully funded.

The KES 17m of debt finance will enable Azuri’s partner Raj Ushanga House to deploy 1,200 Azuri Solar Home Systems, providing clean electricity to approximately 6,000 people whilst enabling local businesses to flourish.

The project is TRINE’s first “A” level risk rating to date and is one of the fastest to reach its original fundraising target, well ahead of schedule. Investors can expect an attractive interest rate, whilst making a lasting social impact. Following the successful completion of this transaction, plans are already well advanced for the successor campaigns.

Globally the crowd-investment market generated an estimated $2.1 billion in 2015, with investments in developing countries alone predicted to exceed $96 billion per year within a decade according to the World Bank. As such, it is emerging as an increasingly important means of financing new technology at scale in rural Africa.

TRINE aims to tackle energy poverty through closing the gap between private capital in developed countries and local solar partners in emerging markets. In contrast to microfinance where large investors make many small loans, crowd funding allows many small lenders to provide substantial finance to organizations with the reach and scale to deliver significant impact. The for-profit nature of TRINE means that its projects are economically viable as well as delivering a long-term social and environmental benefit.

Simon Bransfield-Garth, CEO of Azuri said: “We congratulate Raj Ushanga House and TRINE on this successful and innovative crowd-funding campaign. Crowd funding is clearly no longer just for start-ups and has the potential to provide a new class of capital for energy access.”

Sam Manaberi, Founder & CEO of TRINE, said: “We're thrilled to fully fund our 10th project together with Raj Ushanga House and Azuri. Almost 100,000 people will soon have access to clean energy since we started TRINE. This successful campaign further proves that the interest for investing in social, environmental and economical impact is continuing to increase. We look forward to keep working with the best entrepreneurs and bring solar where it's needed the most.”

Raju Haria, CEO of RUH, said: “Since our partnership with Azuri began a couple of years ago we have been able to directly finance products providing clean energy to off-grid households in Kenya. With our proven model, we are excited to bring in external debt providers such as TRINE to really scale up our customer base for basic energy products as well as appliances such as PayGo Solar TV.”

(Photo Source: Azuri Technologies)