By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
A Nigerian-based fintech and energy startup, Infibranches Technologies Limited, has closed a total of $2 million in a seed round which will be deployed to bridge the gap of energy distribution and financial inclusion across underserved areas of the country.
The fresh funding saw the participation of investors, including an impact investment company, All On, backed by Shell Foundation to support Infibranches in diversifying its energy products to extend towards rural and peri-urban areas.
The two-year-old energy startup was founded by Mr Olusola Owoyemi with the sole aim of providing digital financial services for service providers in the energy sector, as well as its accessibility across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The firm established two products called OmniBranches and Green Energy Plug to achieve its milestone purpose which now serves as its flagship products as large distribution networks, Solar Home System (SHS) distributors, and mini-grid developers, manage their operations.
The OmniBranches leverages an active network of agents with hierarchy management, real-time reporting and reconciliation, cashout, and downline commission management, while the Green Energy Plug focuses on improving energy access by financial inclusion via accessible Application Programming Interface (APIs).
Expressing his enthusiasm at the funding, Mr Owoyemi said that so far, OmniBranches has served over a million customers, adding that the investment will focus on tackling poverty while enhancing financial inclusion.
“Through this investment, Infibranches plans to speed up customer acquisition in its current markets. This will also improve existing products like Omnibranches, which has served over a million customers and introduce new products and services to address energy distribution issues,” he disclosed.
In his contribution, the CEO of Shell Foundation, Mr Sam Parker, noted that, “The initiative’s work with Infibranches has shown how important it is to continue addressing market barriers, enabling enterprises to more quickly expand their life-changing energy solutions to households and SMEs across Nigeria.”
Noting that the partnership will bring about a new renovation into the energy sector, the CEO at All On, Mr Wiebe Boer, said, “We are particularly thrilled about this deal because it’s an innovative business model that solves the payments and collections problems that Solar Home System distributors and mini-grid developers face across Nigeria.
“This partnership merges fintech and renewables in a way we haven’t seen in Nigeria before and will enable tens of thousands of new electricity connections.”
