RVE.SOL Portugal, start-up supported by InnoEnergy, announced today Acumen’s equity investment as well as the acquisition from Vulcan Inc. of a portfolio of sites in Kenya. These deals follow on from EGIS Projects SA Series A investment, who partook in this round with of a follow-on project CAPEX funding facility. By the end of 2020, the social entrepreneurship will serve and empower over 45,000 previously unserved people through their KUDURA universal basic multi-utility approach.

As a leading Sub-Saharan mini-grid operator active in East Africa and an ambitious project portfolio across multiple African countries, the company aims to become the preferred mini-grid investment platform, bridging international investors and local developers with bankable, sustainable projects. The company’s focus on customer experience and productive energy uses have been essential to their success in rural areas. In a multi-utility, mini-grid context, these elements increase ROI, reduce risk, secure investment returns and enable a development outcome shift.

RVE.SOL represents to Acumen a unique investment opportunity and is a natural extension of its recent public commitment to mini-grids as a promising least-cost solution for rural customers living off the grid, highlighted in the publication entitled, “Unlocking Private Capital for Mini-Grids in Africa.”

Vivian Vendeirinho CEO of RVE.SOL, Managing Director of KUDURA Power East Africa Ltd, explains that “Acumen’s Lean Data approach to data collection, analysis and data-driven decision making provides for an industry-standard mechanism to simplify impact assessment in a cost-effective and transparent manner. Acumen’s recent endorsement of investment in mini-grids as the least-cost approach to decentralized and accelerated rural energy access comes at the perfect time for us as we enter this phase of exponential growth.”