{"id":17452,"date":"2020-03-06T13:48:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T13:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rbsitsoftwaresolution.com\/blog\/nigerias-rensource-raises-20m-to-power-african-markets-by-solar.html"},"modified":"2020-03-06T13:48:02","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T13:48:02","slug":"nigerias-rensource-raises-20m-to-power-african-markets-by-solar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/nigerias-rensource-raises-20m-to-power-african-markets-by-solar.html","title":{"rendered":"Nigeria\u2019s Rensource raises $20M to power African markets by solar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigerian startup Rensource Energy<\/a> has raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by CRE Venture Capital <\/a>and the Omidyar network.<\/p>\n

The renewable energy company builds and operates solar-powered micro-utilities that provide electricity to commercial community structures, such as open-air trading bazaars.<\/p>\n

Launched in 2016, the startup has shifted its operating strategy. \u201cWe\u2019ve pivoted away from a residential focus\u2026and we\u2019re building much larger systems to become essentially the utility for these large urban markets we have a lot of in Nigeria,\u201d Rensource co-founder Ademola Adesina<\/a> told TechCrunch.<\/p>\n

The company has a partnership with German manufacturer BOS AG<\/a>, with whom it designs specialized panels for it use case. Rensource also has developer teams in Nigeria and Europe for its software-related programs.<\/p>\n

In addition to becoming a micro-energy provider to Nigeria\u2019s robust SME classes, the startup aims to offer them B2B<\/a> services. With the $20 million round, Rensource is launching its Spaces Offline to Online platform for supply-chain services, including business-analytics and working capital options.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a mini-ERP<\/a> tool. We\u2019re trying to bring a universe of people who are banked, but\u2026still offline \u2014 their products are offline, they don\u2019t track anything, and there\u2019s no data behind their business \u2014 online,\u201d said Adesina.<\/p>\n

\"Rensource<\/p>\n

The benefit Rensource seeks to deliver to Nigeria\u2019s SMEs \u2014 at a profit for itself \u2014 is to lower overhead costs through better business practices and free them from the bane of generators.<\/p>\n

Across marketplaces in West Africa, noisy, fuel-guzzling and pollution-producing generators are like an unwelcome, yet necessary business partner.<\/p>\n

Lack of affordable and reliable electricity in Nigeria creates a massive real and opportunity cost to Africa\u2019s largest economy.<\/p>\n

For perspective, the West African country is roughly the size of Texas<\/a>, with a 200 million population larger than Russia<\/a>, and generates less gigawatt hours of electricity<\/a> annually than the U.S. state of Connecticut<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nigerian businesses (and citizens) adjust for these power deficiencies by spending on diesel fuel and generators.<\/p>\n

The IMF\u2019s 2019 Nigeria report<\/a> quoted economic losses of $29 billion in Nigeria due to unreliable electricity supply. On global Doing Business rankings<\/a>, Nigeria ranked 169 out of 190 countries in the category of \u201cGetting Electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

This difficulty and cost weighs particularly heavy on Nigeria (and the continent\u2019s) SMEs, which often operate in Africa\u2019s informal economy \u2014 projected to be one of the largest off-the grid commercial spaces<\/a> in the world.<\/p>\n

\"RensourceRensource\u2019s micro-utility model deploys power clusters \u2014 made up of solar-panels, batteries and a power management system \u2014 adjacent to markets and commercial hubs. The energy application isn\u2019t totally clean, as the startup still uses its own diesel backup system.<\/p>\n

Rensourse has used this model to become an off-grid energy provider in six states in Nigeria, and powers the Sabon Gari<\/a> market \u2014 one of the country\u2019s largest, located in northern Kano State.<\/p>\n

The company plans to expand to 100 markets within Nigeria and to additional African countries within 24 months, according to Adesina.<\/p>\n

Rensource generates revenue from charging merchants daily, weekly or monthly fees. \u201cIn 2017, we did a few hundred thousand dollars in revenue. Last year we did about $7 million in revenue, and this year we\u2019ll do better than that,\u201d Adesina said.<\/p>\n

The company doesn\u2019t release official financials, but generated a small profit last year, according to Adesina. He named deploying more of its micro-utilities to new markets and diversifying services as the path to long-term profitability.<\/p>\n

Rensource differentiates itself from many home-kit solar energy startups in Africa, such as M-Kopa<\/a>, by becoming a renewable energy utility at scale.<\/p>\n

\"ademolaThe startup\u2019s CEO sees the model as a classic leapfrog tech business, effectively bypassing Nigeria\u2019s deficient electricity grid and providing a less capital intensive alternative to large (and often complicated) energy infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

Rensource is also following a trend by some Nigeria-based startups, such as trucking-logistics company Kobo360<\/a> and motorcycle ride-hail company Gokada<\/a>, to shape a suite of additional services around the needs of core clients.<\/p>\n

In Rensource\u2019s case, those clients are SMEs and traders in the informal economy. \u201cThis informality of theirs is what we see as an opportunity in building this new business line and bringing these [merchants] into the online world,\u201d said Adesina.<\/p>\n

\n

Nigerian logistics startup Kobo360 raises $30M backed by Goldman Sachs<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article source: https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2019\/12\/17\/nigerias-rensource-raises-20m-to-power-african-markets-by-solar\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigerian startup Rensource Energy has raised a $20 million Series A round co-led by CRE Venture Capital and the Omidyar network. The renewable energy company builds and operates solar-powered micro-utilities <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17453,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17],"tags":[23],"class_list":["post-17452","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-networking-and-communication","tag-network-and-communication"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t