Sunfunder invests in agricultural cold chain company InspiraFarms
Solar debt finance company Sunfunder has completed a new $500,000 loan with InspiraFarms, which will provide working capital for the company to deploy its agricultural solar-powered cold chain installations in Africa.
The new loan is the first step in a new collaboration on a pioneering asset financing structure to support the rollout of InspiraFarms’ units. SunFunder is providing advisory services to InspiraFarms to structure an optimal financing vehicle for end users, in order to lower the upfront cost of adopting this technology.
“We believe that end user financing structures are an important piece of the puzzle for taking productive use solar from niche innovations to the mass market,” said Rim Azirar, senior investment officer at SunFunder leading the transaction. “InspiraFarms has been a partner of ours for several years and we are delighted to be pioneering this together.”
“Asset finance is a successful instrument to unlock capital for agribusinesses with urgent needs for first-mile cold chain technology to reduce post-harvest losses and maintain export quality fresh produce,” said Michele Bruni, CEO at InspiraFarms. “The new funding provided by SunFunder will scale-up InspiraFarms’ asset finance credit facility, to finance a larger number of clients in Africa requiring our cold chain and post-harvest management technology.”
InspiraFarms develops modular and energy-efficient cold rooms and packhouses that can be installed in remote areas, supported with solar power and cloud-based remote monitoring technology. This allows farmers, distributors and processors to access the cold chain for fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as using the units for processing, which adds value. The UN estimates that continent-wide up to 40% of fruit and vegetables spoil before they are sold.
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