Husk Power Systems, an India- and Africa-focused renewable energy company that supplies electricity to rural areas through minigrids, said Tuesday it has raised $103 million in equity and debt funding.
The US-based company said it secured $43 million in a Series D round from new investors STOA Infra & Energy, the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and French development financier Proparco, as well as existing investors Shell Ventures, Swedfund and FMO.
In addition, Husk mopped up an additional $60 million in debt from several finance institutions, including the European Investment Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The company will use the funding to build 1,400 mini solar grids in rural Africa and Asia, nearly 300,000 new connections and adding 2,500 new direct jobs, it said in a statement.
Two-thirds of the capital will go to Sub-Saharan Africa, the company said, adding that this marks a major step towards its goal of mobilizing $500 million to reach 2,500 minigrids on the continent under its Africa Sunshot initiative.
Husk, led by CEO and co-founder Manoj Sinha, said it has grown its fleet 20-fold to more than 200 solar hybrid minigrids in India and Nigeria since raising $25 million in equity funding in 2018.
Sinha separately told Reuters the company plans to expand into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "But our focus is going to be India and Nigeria where we are going to increase our footprint from 200 to 1,500 mini grids," he said.
The company was founded in 2008 and has evolved over the year from a pure-play minigrid operator to become an integrated platform offers sales and financing of energy-efficient appliances, turnkey commercial and industrial rooftop solar systems and low-carbon and climate-resilient energy services, including e-mobility, agro-processing and cold storage.
Husk raised seed funding in 2009 from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Cisco Systems, according to VCCEdge, the data research arm of VCCircle. The following year, it got funding from IFC and Acumen Fund. In 2012, the company raised $5 million in a funding round led by Acumen Fund and Bamboo Finance. Shell Ventures led its Series C round in 2018.
