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The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has made a $10 million equity investment in CrossBoundary Access, the energy access utility of the CrossBoundary Group that finances and operates distributed renewable energy infrastructure across Africa. The investment will finance the continued construction of projects and technology expanding energy access on the continent, bringing CrossBoundary Access closer to its goal of delivering clean, reliable power to one million people.
CrossBoundary Group says the equity investment from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group and the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets, will support the continued construction and expansion of CrossBoundary Access’s portfolio of distributed renewable energy assets, including mini-grids, battery-as-a-service (BaaS), and adjacent technologies in Sub-Saharan Africa.
IFC joins a group of leading investors that includes ARCH Emerging Markets Partners, Bank of America, Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund, and the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA). IFC’s investment is enabled through financing from the Global Energy Alliance, a blended finance facility supported by the Rockefeller Foundation.
“We’re grateful for IFC’s investment and endorsement of our vision for scaling a distributed energy access utility in Africa,” said Humphrey Wireko, Managing Director, CrossBoundary Access. “We look forward to expanding the business with new and current partners, and to providing the reliable electricity our customers need for their homes and businesses.”
The investment will support the continued build-out of projects with partners including Ignite Energy Access and Mobile Power (MOPO) in Nigeria and ANKA in Madagascar, and will also allow the company to explore new partnership opportunities in other Sub-Saharan African markets.
CrossBoundary Access currently provides power to over 170,000 people in Nigeria and Madagascar, with an operating portfolio of over 4MW of PV solar and 8.5MWh of battery storage.
Gabriel Davies, co-founder and Managing Director of CrossBoundary Access, said, “This investment builds on the support of the investors and partners who backed CrossBoundary Access from the beginning. Their commitment helped demonstrate that mini-grids can be financed at scale. IFC’s investment marks another important step toward unlocking the capital needed to bring electricity to millions more people across Africa.”
The IFC investment in CrossBoundary Access signals the intent of the institution’s wider push to scale clean energy solutions across Africa. Last week, it backed Madagascar-based WeLight with $30.7 million in funding to scale mini-grid deployment in Africa.
“Mini-grids are an important part of the solution to expanding energy access in rural and underserved communities. CrossBoundary Access is helping create the conditions needed to scale mini-grid deployment across Africa by bringing together the right capital, partnerships, and operating models. IFC’s investment supports the continued growth of this approach and aligns with Mission 300’s goal of expanding access to reliable electricity across Africa,” said Soumya Banerjee, Acting Africa Director for Infrastructures and Natural Resources, IFC.
