Spark+ extends $1.5m financing to ATEC
Spark+ extends $1.5m financing to ATEC
The facility will finance ATEC to accelerate the rollout of its eCook appliances across African markets.
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The Spark+ Africa Fund, managed by Enabling Qapital, has provided $1.5 million in long-term quasi-equity financing to ATEC through its Mauritius affiliate. The facility will finance ATEC to accelerate the rollout of its patented IoT-enabled eCook appliances across African markets.
ATEC’s eCook stove leverages SIM technology to accurately track usage on each device and process this into 100% data-verified carbon credits through its proprietary digital monitoring, reporting, and verification platform.
Beyond carbon verification, ATEC’s patented eCook design unblocks other barriers to the rapid adoption of electric cooking. Mobile money and pay-as-you-go (PAYG) integrations remove the upfront asset cost of electric cooking, and users can receive direct payments related to their eCook usage from carbon or development partners. Each stove integrates with grid providers to offer cooking-specific electricity tariffs as well as dynamic fleet management as grids expand.
The Spark+ facility will finance ATEC’s capacity to rollout eCook with distributor, grid, and carbon partners across Africa, starting with Rwanda, Zambia, DRC, Uganda, Malawi, and Kenya. ATEC is also in the process of rolling out the eCook product from its original base of Bangladesh and Cambodia to a further five markets across Asia.
Peter George and Xavier Pierluca, investment directors of Enabling Qapital, said: “We are pleased to consummate this transaction with ATEC. Given greater rates of electrification and improving grid/mini-grid reliability in many African countries, electricity is a clean, modern cooking option for a growing number of consumers. With the integration of IoT technology, the upfront and ongoing barriers to electric cooking will significantly decline and we are confident ATEC is well-positioned to be one of the leading companies in this emerging space.”
Ben Jeffreys, co-founder and CEO of ATEC, said: “ATEC is excited about this partnership with Spark+ to support our expansion into African markets. Electric cooking is the safest, cleanest, most energy efficient solution on the planet, and leverages electrification to keep cooking costs down for households in our targeted countries. While electrification rates are not currently as high as in Asia, Africa leads globally in the adjacent markets of carbon, PAYG and renewables which IoT unlocks at scale. Combined, these provide the foundational blocks for Africa to leapfrog to universal access to electric cooking.”
Spark+ was advised by Morgan Lewis Bockius led by Boston-based partner Carl Valenstein, with support from London-based partner Ayesha Waheed, London-based associates Opeyemi Atawo, and London-based trainee solicitor Samuel Omotayo. Spark+ was also advised by BLC Robert & Associates in Mauritius. ATEC was advised by Sidley Austin, and BLC Robert & Associates in Mauritius.
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