Nuru raises $60 million to finance minigrids in Congo

Nuru, a Congo-based solar minigrid startup, has secured financing in the Series B round from several investors, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the UK government-backed Renewable Energy Performance Platform. The investment round, worth $60 million, is about to conclude, and a larger round is expected to follow later this year.

The primary objective of Nuru is to provide power to five million individuals in Congo. With only 10% of Congo's 100 million inhabitants having access to electricity, its one of the least electrified nations in the world. In order to accomplish this goal, Nuru plans to enhance its generation capacity by approximately 10 times, reaching 13.7 MW, by using the funds raised in the Series B round to develop three new large-scale facilities.

Several investors, including Proparco of France, E3, and the Gaia Impact Fund, have contributed to the Series B round's revenues. Consequently, Nuru intends to increase the number of individuals it serves from the current 50,000 to half a million.

In the war-torn east of the Congo, where there is no electricity of any kind, Nuru's minigrids provide power to urban settlements. By utilising renewable energy sources, Nuru enables these settlements to abandon their reliance on fossil fuels. According to Shaw, co-founder of the company, $300 million will be required to reach their aim of providing electricity to five million people.