DFC invests $10m in Nithio FI to scale clean energy financing in Africa

The U.S. Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has invested $10 million in Nithio’s financial intermediary, Nithio FI, B.V., an AI-enabled clean energy financing platform. Strongly aligned with DFC’s climate-focused investments agenda, this investment enables Nithio to scale its data-driven financing to impact more than 3.5 million people by 2025 and drive climate change adaptation efforts in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria. The investment, joined alongside FSD Africa Investments and EDFI-ElectriFI, finalised Nithio FI’s first round of $23 million. Nithio FI is a blended finance, permanent capital vehicle that is purpose-built to mobilise capital at scale.

Nithio continues to scale its lending operations in key growth markets. To date, Nithio has invested in four high-impact off-grid solar and microfinance institutions in Kenya and Nigeria, including VEP, Rafode, Winock, and A4&T Power Solutions. Nithio has built a strong pipeline and looks forward to continuing to build strong partnerships with companies focused on providing solar energy for powering homes, businesses, and agricultural activities. These products not only bring clean energy access, they increase resilience to climate change.

”Nithio has created an innovative, data-driven solution that fills a large gap in the market to sustainably scale capital flows to the clean energy sector. By standardising credit risk, Nithio’s investments will have an outsized impact towards achieving universal energy access and combating the effects of climate change,” said Bobby Pittman, Nithio co-founder and founding partner at Kupanda Capital.

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