SOUTH AFRICA – South African pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar energy startup Yellow is embarking on an expansion drive which will see it berth in Malawi and Uganda.
With the US$3.3 million Series A funding round it successfully achieved, it will a scale-up its footprint to reach over 100,000 customers in Malawi and Uganda.
Founded in 2017, Yellow has enabled 30,000 low income rural households to access electricity through solar home systems on a financed basis.
In May 2020, the company closed a US$3.3 million Series A round of funding to grow its footprint with investment coming from Platform Investment Partners (PIP), Ruby Rock Investment (RRI) and previous investors LBOS.
Yellow will use the funding to grow its development and operations teams and rapidly scale its off-grid energy offering.
However, it also plans to look at broader opportunities its digital distribution platform offers in consumer items and financial services in the continent.
Despite the negative impacts of COVID-19 on businesses, it appears that many African startups are rolling and trudging and using the opportunities provided by the market disruptions to expand into other markets within the continent.
This can be seen from the number of successful funding that has taken place since the great lockdown.
Speaking to Afrikan Heroes magazine, Michael Stannard, chief operation officer of Platform Investment Partners said that “Platform Growth seeks to invest in businesses that combine strong management teams with unique technology and in Yellow we feel we have found this combination and have been hugely impressed by the deployment of Yellow’s Ofeefee software to solve complex problems in rural areas of Malawi and Uganda”.
“We are proud to provide capital alongside our investment partners, Ruby Rock in order to grow Yellow into one of Africa’s leading digital retailers” he added.
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