Tag: FSD Africa Investments

Persistent Launches US$70 million Persistent Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund and $5 million Venture Building Facility

Posted on by Riitho

First published on persistnent.energy website, this press release is republished here to share insights with our broader community.

Persistent has launched the US$70 million Persistent Africa Climate Venture Fund (“Persistent ACV Fund”) with a first close of US$52 million and an additional initial $5 million Venture Building Facility.

The Persistent ACV Fund is an early-stage climate investment vehicle domiciled in Mauritius, focused on backing Africa’s most innovative and high-impact climate ventures. Beyond capital, the Fund leverages Persistent’s tailored Venture Building platform to accelerate the growth, operational maturation, and scale of its portfolio companies. The Fund aims to catalyze Africa’s Energy, Agriculture, and Resource Transitions. While its core strategy targets investments from pre-seed through Series A, the Fund retains the flexibility to provide later-stage follow-on capital to high-performing portfolio companies.

Structured with a blended finance model, the Fund offers private investors first-loss and priority return protection. Its investment approach is further strengthened by integrated, bespoke Venture Building support, underpinned by a $5 million contribution-based Venture Building Facility (VBF).

The Partners of Persistent stated: “Achieving the first close of the Persistent ACV Fund is a strong show of confidence in Persistent and the Fund’s strategy. The first close demonstrates that early-stage climate innovation in Africa is investable at scale and that it presents a compelling opportunity for investors. We are excited to move into the investment phase as we continue to back entrepreneurs building businesses across Africa’s Energy, Agriculture and Resource Transitions. We are thankful for the trust that all our LPs, the contributors to our Venture Building Facility, and especially the entrepreneurs we will invest in, are putting in us.  We believe that the growing alignment between catalytic and commercial capital is essential to closing Africa’s climate financing gap, and we look forward to translating that alignment into disciplined execution, impact and long-term value creation.”

 

Driving impact through early-stage climate investment

The launch of the Fund comes against the backdrop of Africa facing a disproportionate share of climate risk while receiving only a small fraction of global climate financing. Early-stage climate businesses, in particular, struggle to access capital and operational support needed to scale and have substantial impact. The Persistent ACV Fund is designed to address this gap by combining equity investment with custom Venture Building services to enable climate ventures to move from early traction to scalable, impactful businesses. The Fund intends to achieve substantial climate, socio-economic, and gender impact in Africa over the lifetime of the Fund, targeting:

  • Over 17 million tons of CO2/GHG mitigated
  • Over 7 million overall beneficiaries (of which half will be female)
  • Over 60,000 direct jobs created (of which half will be female)
  • Over 400,000 people are economically impacted
  • Over 420,000 households with new or improved electricity connections
  • Over $450 million additional investment catalysed

The Persistent ACV Fund is managed by its General Partner, Persistent ACV GP Ltd., and advised by Persistent Energy Capital LLC, a U.S. venture capital firm with offices across Africa and Europe. The Fund was conceived by Persistent in collaboration with FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi), a specialist financial sector investor established by FSD Africa and the UK’s FCDO, and an Anchor Investor in the Fund. FSDAi invested $3 million in Persistent in 2022 and made an early pledge of a $10million anchor commitment to the Fund.  FSDAi’s initial investment was used to make investments in climate businesses that have been warehoused by Persistent for transfer to the Fund now that it is closed.

 

“Closing Africa’s climate financing gap requires more than capital. It requires the right fund managers, supported at the right moment, through structures that give other investors the confidence to follow,” said Anne-Marie Chidzero, Chief Investment Officer of FSDAi. “Our anchor commitment to the Persistent Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund is built on that logic: identifying early-stage climate fund managers with genuine potential, providing the catalytic capital they need to establish a credible track record, and ensuring our investment is structured in a way that mobilizes far greater resources into Africa’s energy and climate transition.”Other Anchor Investors of the Fund are the Nordic Development Fund (NDF) and the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (AfDB SEFA).Additional Investors include: the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Soros Economic Development Fund (SEDF), Impact Fund Denmark (IFDK), the Schmidt Family Foundation and the Cottier Donzé Foundation.Satu Santala, Managing Director of NDF stated, “As a catalytic investor, NDF is pleased to support the Persistent ACV Fund, providing concessional capital to early-stage climate initiatives. NDF also supports the Persistent ACV Venture Building Facility in its work to expand the African start-up landscape and establish promising climate ventures with strong sustainability and impact potential. Persistent has a strong track record in supporting local innovation and ownership through their Venture Building model, which they are now scaling beyond energy into other climate-relevant sectors, bringing clear value to the market. The Persistent ACV Fund’s specific focus on gender equality and local innovation aligns closely with NDF’s mandate, while its ambition to drive decarbonisation, strengthen community resilience, and improve access to essential products and services for underserved and marginalised communities across Africa reflects the impact we seek to achieve.”João Duarte Cunha, Manager of AfDB’s Renewable Energy Funds Division, stated, “Catalytic capital is essential to unlock Africa’s climate innovation potential. We are pleased to partner with Persistent to strengthen a growing ecosystem of early-stage African climate innovators—entrepreneurs who are expanding energy access and driving the clean energy transition.”Shohei Hara, Senior Vice President of JICA stated, “The Persistent ACV Fund is the very first investment under the JICA Blended Finance Window, which was launched during the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in August 2025. We hope that this investment will showcase the mobilization of private capital through catalytic investment. By investing into the Persistent ACV Fund and underlying climate entrepreneurs, we would like to show our commitment to support African development consistent with pathways towards a  low-carbon future as well our commitment to gender-lens investments as a 2x challenge member in accordance with our Sustainability Policy.” Georgia Levenson Keohane, CEO of the Soros Economic Development Fund, said “SEDF is proud to invest in Persistent’s Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund, which will help to scale early-stage climate solutions, unlock private capital, and build a resilient, climate-positive future for communities across the continent.”“At Impact Fund Denmark, we work to mobilise capital where it can make a meaningful difference. With this investment, we are supporting entrepreneurs who are building solutions with real potential for both climate impact and long-term economic development in Africa.” Says CEO Lars Bo Bertram, Impact Fund Denmark.

 

Custom Venture Building for Faster and More Sustainable Growth

The $5 million contribution based Venture Building Facility (VBF) is funded by NDF and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank. Through the VBF, Fund pipeline and portfolio companies can qualify to receive tailored company-building support in one or more areas, including finance, fundraising, strategy, ESG, technology, legal, and marketing. This support can be financed, in whole or in part, through the VBF.  VBF-supported Venture Building services will accelerate the building of successful businesses in which the Fund invests, deepen impact outcomes as well as reduce early-stage execution risk for the Fund.

Andrew Shaw, Manager, Market Creation – Financial Inclusion at FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank added, “At FMO, a core pillar of our market creation strategy is supporting pioneering fund managers who are expanding access to finance in underserved markets across Sub‑Saharan Africa. These managers are essential to building robust investment pipelines and strengthening the broader entrepreneurial ecosystem. Persistent exemplifies this approach. By pairing early‑stage capital with hands‑on Venture Building, Persistent equips CleanTech companies across Africa to grow at their most critical stages. Through our Market Creation program, we are proud to back initiatives like this that broaden financial inclusion, accelerate climate‑positive innovation, and unlock sustainable economic opportunities across the continent.”

For More Information, Contact: damilola@persistent.energy

FSD Africa Investments and Allied Climate Partners commit $50 million in catalytic capital to anchor the African Transition Acceleration Fund (ATAF)

Posted on by Allan Musumba

March 12, 2026 | Nairobi, Kenya— FSD Africa Investments (FSDAi) and Allied Climate Partners (ACP) have jointly announced their combined anchor commitment of $50 million in catalytic capital to the first close of the African Transition Acceleration Fund (ATAF), a catalytic vehicle managed by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM). The fund, which is targeting $200 million, is designed to accelerate investment in Africa’s energy transition, vitalise economies, and create sustainable jobs. ACP and FSDAi are joined by the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Frontier Opportunities Fund; and several senior equity co-investors including the IFC, KfW, Proparco, and other private investors.

“Africa’s energy transition will not be financed by waiting for projects to become safe enough for conventional capital,” said Anne-Marie Chidzero, FSDAi’s Chief Investment Officer. “Someone has to go first. This partnership with ACP – and our anchor commitment to ATAF – is us going first.”

Across Africa, most infrastructure funds are not structured to commit significant capital to early-stage project development. As a result, promising opportunities stall before they can launch, scale, and reach bankability. ATAF was purposefully created through a structured market assessment and selection process to focus capital on this gap, and provide support to economically viable platforms and companies at the earliest and most critical stages of project development and company growth.

By anchoring the fund with catalytic capital, FSDAi and ACP aim to help close this gap, alongside partners. The fund seeks to invest in early-stage developers and companies looking to advance climate infrastructure projects toward bankability and scale across three core energy transition themes:

  • Clean electrons such as on-grid and off-grid renewables, energy efficiency, and transmission
  • Sustainable transport such as electric vehicles and low-carbon transport systems
  • Clean molecules such as green ammonia, fertilizers, and biofuels

With its pan-African strategy, ATAF will invest with a focus on accelerating projects, attracting and strengthening management teams, and building platforms capable of scaling and attracting commercial capital. The fund intends to generate meaningful environmental, economic, and social benefits, including tens of thousands of green jobs, emissions reductions, and expanded access to clean power, green fuels, and low-carbon transport.

This investment builds upon the partnership established in 2024 between FSDAi and ACP which brings together two mission-aligned and complementary investment organisations. FSDAi, backed by the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), provides patient, risk-bearing capital and deep expertise in African financial market development. ACP, utilizing philanthropic capital, brings experience in architecting and anchoring catalytic climate investment funds with junior equity across emerging markets to promote sustainable development and positive climate outcomes. Together, FSDAi and ACP are backing ATAF to accelerate Africa’s energy transition, send a market signal, and help prove the model so more investors follow.

“ATAF is a testament to the power of purposeful partnership,” said Ahmed Saeed, CEO of Allied Climate Partners. “Together with FSDAi and others, we will empower ATAF to catalyse new markets and accelerate transformative infrastructure platforms and companies – creating jobs, powering economies, and strengthening communities across Africa at risk of the devastating impacts of a changing planet.”

ATAF will be managed by AIIM, one of Africa’s most experienced infrastructure investment managers with more than two decades’ experience investing across renewables, transport, and digital infrastructure on the continent. AIIM’s team of more than 40 locally-based investment professionals brings the execution capability and sectoral depth that early-stage energy transition investment demands. ATAF will be led by Lisa Pinsley, a seasoned investor with 18+ years’ experience investing in energy across Africa.

ATAF is the first investment of the FSDAi-ACP strategic partnership, and complements FSDAi’s wider portfolio of investments in African green growth, including InfraCredit Nigeria, the Acre Impact Fund, the Africa Local Currency Bond Fund (ALCB Fund), and ARM-Harith’s Africa Climate Transformation (ACT) Fund. Across these commitments, FSDAi’s consistent aim is to crowd in private capital and establish new financing channels for Africa’s energy and climate transition.

ATAF is ACP’s first catalytic investment in Africa. ACP has also supported SEACEF II (managed by Clime Capital) and the Green Investments Partnership (managed by Pentagreen) in Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean Community Resilience Fund (managed by Sygnus Capital) in the Caribbean.