Editor’s note: African-Startups is a sister publication of EU-Startups, bringing trusted coverage of startups, venture capital, and innovation across Africa.
Cape Town-based African climate investment firm Inspired Evolution announced the $176 million commercial launch of Zafiri, a blended permanent-capital vehicle focused on expanding electricity access for tens of millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa. The announcement was made at the Africa Energy Forum in Cape Town, South Africa.
The platform aims to accelerate private-sector investment into decentralised renewable energy solutions, including mini-grids, solar home systems, battery storage, and clean cooking technologies.
Wayne Keast, Managing Partner at Inspired Evolution, said, “Zafiri represents an innovative multistakeholder partnership, forged under the World Bank’s Mission 300 Initiative, that leverages the positive attributes of multilateral agencies, DFIs, and philanthropic funders, together with private sector agility and competencies. Zafiri is core to our vision and mission, which includes the provision of long-term, patient, blended finance mechanisms to accelerate energy access and inclusion for Africa’s underserved communities.
“We are proud to be the chosen private sector investment manager to implement Zafiri across the region. Underpinned by country compacts, Zafiri will enable clean and affordable DRE solutions in contribution to an African just energy transition.”
Managed by Inspired Evolution, Zafiri’s founding shareholders include IFC, a member of the World Bank Group; the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), including its Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA); The Rockefeller Foundation; Trade and Development Bank Group (TDB Group); Nordic Development Fund (NDF); the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; and FirstRand Limited.
Ethiopis Tafara, IFC Vice President for Africa, says, “Zafiri’s commercial launch delivers on what we promised at the Mission 300 launch – mobilising equity at scale to close a critical development finance gap and accelerate investment into the fast-growing distributed renewable energy (DRE) sector. By blending capital and continuing to de-risk these investments, Zafiri will help connect people and businesses, create jobs, and deliver tangible human benefits. We call on more partners to join us to expand such initiatives.”
Zafiri is also supported by the Mission 300 initiative, which seeks to provide electricity access to 300 million people across Africa by 2030, positioning the platform within a broader push to close the continent’s energy access gap.
The joint initiative is co-led by the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank Group, with support from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, and Sustainable Energy.
Zafiri’s strategy focuses on deploying flexible capital into companies operating across the distributed renewable energy ecosystem.
This includes businesses providing off-grid and mini-grid infrastructure, solar home systems, battery storage, and clean cooking solutions, all of which are seen as essential to reaching rural and underserved populations where traditional grid expansion remains limited.
Zafiri expects to reach a final close of $300 million within 12 months, with a longer-term ambition to scale up to $1 billion to accelerate energy access in Africa.
By prioritising commercially viable projects, Zafiri aims to demonstrate that decentralised energy solutions can deliver both financial returns and measurable social impact.
Inspired Evolution, a Cape Town-based clean energy investment firm, will manage the platform. The firm has experience backing renewable energy projects across Africa and will focus on finding and growing high-impact businesses in the distributed energy space.
The launch comes at a time when sub-Saharan Africa continues to face significant energy access challenges, with hundreds of millions of people still lacking reliable electricity. While public funding has traditionally played a central role, initiatives like Zafiri signal a growing shift towards mobilising private capital to complement development finance and accelerate progress.
“DRE solutions, including mini-grids and stand-alone solar home systems, are projected to contribute at least 50% of new connections by 2030. Catalyzed by the Africa Development Bank’s SEFA catalytic junior equity, Zafiri is therefore most timely, and its USD 176 million commercial launch an important milestone, as it will avail long-term and much needed equity to scale distributed renewable energy companies, thereby accelerating the ambition of Mission 300”, said Dr Kevin Kariuki, Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth at the African Development Bank.
