Plus, King’s College London’s impact fund announces first round of funding | Key Fund secures €10m for social impact fund.
Sustainable investment manager Mirova has invested $15m (€13.4m) in SolarAfrica to boost access to clean energy across the continent.
Solar Africa recently merged with Starsight Energy to become one of Africa’s leading solar providers, supplying renewable energy and efficiency solutions for commercial and industrial sectors across Southern, East and West Africa. The funding will help pay for the construction of the firm’s pipeline of projects, aimed at boosting access to renewable energy.
“This investment is perfectly in line with our investment strategy dedicated to energy transition in emerging markets, using blended finance to help increase access to reliable and affordable energy in Africa,” said Rim Azirar, deputy head of investments at Mirova.
Charl Alheit, chief investment officer at SolarAfrica, said the investment marked the start of “a partnership that embodies both companies’ commitment to promoting growth in the local renewable energy market while making long-term sustainability a reality for more businesses”.
Key Fund
UK-based social investor Key Fund, which was founded to mitigate the collapse of the coal and steel industries in Northern England, has secured £8.5m (€10.1m) for its Northern Impact Fund 2.
Investors including the Mercer Charitable Foundation, Better Society Capital, Barrow Cadbury Trust and the Joseph Rowntree Trust took part in the funding round.
The new fund will focus on providing flexible loans and grants, ranging from £5,000 to £300,000, to help social and community enterprises in the North of England and the Midlands start up, become sustainable, and grow. The investor’s first impact fund supported more than 200 firms, with more than £9m in funding.
Since its inception 25 years ago, Key Fund has invested £76.6m in over 3,100 organisations, generating 4433 jobs and £483m of impact.
One King’s Impact Fund
The impact fund of King’s College London has awarded nine different projects aimed at creating positive change on global issues with grants totalling £440,000 in its first funding round.
The projects range from a firm focusing on carbon footprint education; a company working on a digital therapy for anxiety, depression and resilience, to a firm aiming to boost climate-positive farming investments in Ghana and Benin.
The One King’s Impact fund is distributing £1m over a period of two years to incubate and scale partnerships that are capable of delivering transformative impact in areas ranging from a sustainable planet, equality, peace and justice and technology for good. The second round of funding is likely to open later this year.
The fund forms part of King’s College goal to be impact-driven in all that it does by 2026, using its education, research and service to bring about positive change the world.
Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin, vice president of international, engagement and service at King’s College, said the purpose of the fund is “to maximise and unlock even more interdisciplinary impact-focused work, as well as the sharing of best practice”.
