Paris-based Koolboks closes $2.5M seed round to scale solar refrigeration across Africa

We are very excited at Aruwa Capital Management to have led this investment into Koolboks, a dynamic tech-enabled refrigeration company providing cost-effective cooling to business owners, particularly women, in off-grid areas in Nigeria and globally.

In the African continent, the refrigeration penetration rate is currently only at 17% with 770 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa without access to electricity. There are significant amounts of spoilage, particularly in the food and pharmaceutical industries, due to grid instability and lack of power.

Koolboks is solving this problem in a very cost-effective manner, by combining the power of two natural forces, the sun, and water, to create a refrigerator that can store energy for up to four days in the absence of power from the grid or generators.

In line with Aruwa’s gender lens investing strategy, Koolboks is co-founded by a woman Deborah Gael, with more than 60% of its management team being women and there is a significant representation of women in Koolboks customer network, with over 65% of the Company’s Koolpaygo customers being women, which is in line with our mandate to partner with companies who are economically empowering women.

We are grateful to our advisers on this transaction, our French legal counsel ASAFO & CO., our Nigerian legal counsel Duale, Ovia & Alex-Adedipe
and our financial DD partner Pedabo.

Congratulations to everyone involved including our co-investing partners’ Acumen, All On, Big Earth Capital, and GSMA.

We look forward to continuing to support Koolboks as they scale in Africa and across the world in their ambition to provide accessible cold storage solutions to all.