NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Spark+ General Partner S.à.r.l. (“Spark+ GP”) announces the second and third closings of Spark+ Africa Fund (“Spark+” or the “Fund”) with a current AUM of USD 64 million. Spark+ is the first impact debt fund dedicated to growing the clean cooking sector across sub-Saharan Africa.

In the Fund’s second closing in July 2022, the European Commission invested in the catalytic tranche via a partnership with IFU, the development finance institution of Denmark and a first closing investor on its own behalf. In addition, a private foundation based in Switzerland invested in the equity tranche, and a donor advised fund managed by US-based ImpactAssets invested in the catalytic and senior debt tranches.

In the third closing in September 2023, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the development finance institution of the United States, invested in the senior debt tranche.

The four investors in the second and third closings joined 12 development finance institutions, foundations, family offices, and pension funds that invested in the Fund’s first closing at USD 41 million in March 2022.