Solar financing specialist SolarAfrica, together with investment manager Inspired Evolution, have signed a R100-million equity investment facility that will contribute to a R500-million fund for financing solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions.

The funding joint venture allows SolarAfrica to strengthen its partnership approach by providing competitively financed solutions for its growing engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and sales partner network.

As first movers in the solar finance industry, SolarAfrica provides funding solutions for residential, commercial and industrial energy users.

The company stated in a release that it is well positioned to benefit from the rapid growth evidenced in the South African commercial and industrial market over the past few years and will capitalise on the growing opportunities further afield in select sub-Saharan African countries.

SolarAfrica’s software platform, Unifii, is an innovative online design and credit technology portal accessed by its solar EPC and sales partners.

Unifii automates the process of generating a fully financed solar energy proposal for its certified partner’s customer base. This process removes previous market friction points and unlocks solar energy solutions for property owners, small and medium-sized businesses or any commercial energy user interested in electricity savings without any capital requirements.

SolarAfrica CEO James Irons said Inspired Evolution’s expertise, record, strong network and investor base adds significant value, allowing SolarAfrica to expand its Unifii platform with more aggressive acquisitions of rooftop solar PV projects, as well as launch in other maturing markets.

Inspired Evolution managing partner Christopher Clarke said the company had been evaluating the commercial and industrial market over the last three to four years and concluded on the merits of establishing an affordable, credit-worthy financing platform as the optimal point of entry for its Evolution II Fund.

“This way, we offer an independent financing portal that crowds-in system integrators and EPC contractors that can secure long-term finance for their projects to benefit underlying private business customers.”

SolarAfrica aims to be the leading solar energy enabler and financing partner to installers and EPC contractors in the solar industry.