Finnfund and Norfund increase Starsight facility to $20m

Starsight, a leading commercial and industrial solar power provider in West Africa, announced on Wednesday that Finnfund and Norfund have increased their senior debt facility from $10 million to $20 million.

The new funding will enable Starsight to continue to deliver its market leading energy-as-a-service hybrid solar solutions to commercial and industrial customers in Nigeria and Ghana.

Starsight, Finnfund, and Norfund closed the original $10 million facility in June 2019. Since then, Starsight has expanded its portfolio to over 500 sites, 36 MW of installed generating capacity, and 28 MWH of storage capacity across Nigeria and Ghana with every of its client benefitting from the company’s end-to-end service. The service, which is 99 percent uptime guarantee, comes with free capex, which make clients’ businesses green and sustainable.

Tony Carr, Starsight’s CEO, spoke on the new deal: “We are proud of our continued relationship with our partners at Finnfund and Norfund, and we value their confidence in Starsight’s world-class team, value offering, and service reputation.

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As we expand from Nigeria to Ghana and beyond, this funding will be key to our ability to swiftly deploy hybrid- solar solutions to new commercial and industrial customers. Starsight is uniquely positioned to remain a market leader thanks to this backing from the Nordic DFI’S, as well as our equity investors- Helios Investment Partners and Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers.”

Eero Pekkanen, Finnfund’s senior investment manager, also commented: “Starsight has succeeded in building a well-functioning business model by providing cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable electricity to clients across Nigeria and Ghana.

It has been delightful to see the company grow from a pioneer in the commercial and industrial field to a market leader inspiring the whole industry.”

Also speaking, Birgit Edlefsen, Norfund’s senior investment manager, said: “We are delighted to see Starsight grow and expand into new markets. By replicating its success from Nigeria into Ghana, the company has enlarged its positive impact on cutting both energy costs and climate emissions, enabling job creation while contributing to a more sustainable development. We are proud to be able to continue to support Starsight on this path.”