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Off Grid Electric gets $7M to ‘light Africa in a decade’
Why do more people live without electricity today than when Edison turned on the first light bulb?For as long as he can remember, Xavier Helgesen has been fascinated with this question. And today, he landed $7 million in financing for his Arusha, Tanzania-based venture, Off Grid Electric, which provides solar energy to people in emerging nations.
- Categories
- Energy
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- impact investing, solar
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Empowering People With Cooking Stoves
Imagine spending 30 percent of your income on cooking fuel, inhaling the equivalent of 20 cigarettes daily while preparing meals for your family, and having to send your daughter to collect fuel for hours every day. What sounds like a far-fetched scenario is the reality of millions of people around the world in countries like Nepal, Darfur and Haiti.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Health Care, Technology
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How Crowdfunding Solar Power is Democratizing the Way we Finance Clean Energy
Crowdfunding campaigns for solar power are gaining traction. Pioneering startups like Mosaic are changing how we finance renewable energy.
- Categories
- Energy
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Opinion: Can ‘Impact Investors’ Save the Day for Cleantech Entrepreneurs?
The impact investing concept is differentiated from other related concepts like ESG (environment-social-governance) in that it involves proactive investments designed to make a positive difference.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment, Impact Assessment
- Tags
- impact investing
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Uganda’s Newest Utility: Pay-as-you-go Solar Power
In Uganda, telecom provider MTN and a company called Fenix are gearing up this year for a nationwide rollout of pre-paid electricity, similar to pre-paid airtime, but using solar kits. Uganda has one of the lowest electrification rates in Africa - a continent where some 600 million people are off the power grid.
- Categories
- Energy, Environment
- Tags
- renewable energy, solar
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d.light Announces $11 Million Series C Financing, Expands Board of Directors
The Series C round included participation from all major investors, including DFJ, Omidyar Network, Nexus India Capital, Gray Ghost Ventures, Acumen Fund and Garage Technology Ventures. With the closing of Series C, d.light has raised a total of $40 million in capital.
- Categories
- Energy, Impact Assessment, Investing
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Google and SolarAid partner to explore impact of solar technology on poverty alleviation in Africa
February 2014: Today Google has announced their continued support of international development charity SolarAid and their work distributing solar lights in rural Africa, by funding a two year evaluation on the impact of solar lights on poverty alleviation.
- Categories
- Energy, Technology
- Tags
- poverty alleviation, solar
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A Crowdfunding Site For High-Impact Solar Projects
Lack of access to financing can keep many otherwise worthy solar energy projects from being built in poor and underserved areas, but a solar crowdfunding site is helping to connect individual investors with solar energy businesses and working to bring affordable solar energy to communities around the world.
- Categories
- Energy
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