Ugandan Clean Energy Company Closes Major Investment
UpEnergy Group has announced the sale of a minority stake in the company to a group of well-aligned investors. The raise has resulted in significant new financing that will bolster UpEnergy’s existing efforts to deliver life-changing technologies to under-served communities in the developing world.
The group of investors include the Finnish Fund for Industrial Cooperation Ltd (Finnfund), a Finnish development finance company, and Richard Lawrence, a US-based investor with a long-standing commitment to the improved cookstove sector and founder of Proyecto Mirador, a Gold Standard fuel-efficient stove project in Honduras.
Several previous investors in the company, including Climate Wedge, a Finland/US-based environmental sector seed-investor and investment advisory firm, reiterated their commitment to UpEnergy by also participating in this funding round.
The investment will enable UpEnergy to capitalize upon a strong foundation of growth and sustainability impact since its founding in 2011. To date, UpEnergy has impacted the lives of over 125,000 Ugandans through the sale of over 23,000 high-efficiency cookstoves. These technologies save 4 hours per day per household in cooking and fuel collection time. The environmental impact is significant with 30,000 tons of CO2 emissions avoided and 120,000 trees saved thus far.
See full press release here (pdf).