The private equity firm’s third fund, which will focus on driving sustainable development across Africa, attracted commitments from 19 predominantly European institutional investors.
Inspired Evolution, a pan-African private equity firm specialising in clean energy infrastructure, energy access and energy transition investments, has raised $238m (€221m) in funding from a wide range of mainly European institutional investors for its Evolution III fund. The third fund will focus on investments in clean energy infrastructure, resource and energy efficiency and energy access.
Inspired Evolution secured commitments from 19 investors, including the Development Bank of Austria (OeEB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Since its foundation in 2007, Inspired Evolution has contributed to the development of more than 4 gigawatts of renewable energy generation projects on the African continent.
“Reaching a final close with commitments of $238m from 19 investors is a significant achievement in the current fundraising environment and demonstrates the confidence that leading global and regional investors have in our strategy and execution capabilities,” said Wayne Keats, co-founder and managing partner at Inspired Evolution.
Institutional demand
Inspired Evolution had raised $199.4m at first close in March 2023 from investors including the European Investment Bank, the Dutch Development Bank, the African Development Bank, Finnfund, Swedfund, the Swiss Investment Fund for Emerging Markets and the Emerging Markets Climate Action Fund.
A second close, in May last year, attracted ten new investors, including the Mauritius Investment Corporation and a consortium of impact-driven investors through Align Impact.
“Africa’s growing population means it will soon be home to one-fifth of the world’s population, so the case to ramp up the supply of clean energy on the continent is clear,” said Cláudia Conceição, the IFC’s regional director for Southern Africa.
“Developing and emerging countries are disproportionately affected by climate change. This is why we have strengthened our strategic focus on green finance and aim to further grow our engagement in Africa,” said Sabine Gaber, a member of the executive board of the OeEB.
Investments
To date, the fund has made two investments. In September 2023, Evolution III and co-investors jointly bought 75% of vertically integrated renewable energy independent power producer Red Rocket Group, which is mainly active in South Africa. The investors committed $160m of fresh capital to the development of a renewable energy pipeline by Red Rocket.
In February 2024, the fund completed what it said was a “significant” minority co-investment in the majority holding consortium of Equator Energy, a commercial and industrial solar provider in East Africa.
The strong institutional backing for Evolution III reflects a growing urgency among investors to address Africa’s energy transition needs, according to Christopher Clarke, co-founder and managing partner at Inspired Evolution.
“The successful closes and strategic investments made to date underscore our commitment to financing and scaling high-impact renewable energy solutions across the continent,” Clarke said.
