Africa- And India-focused Mini-grid Firm Seeks Billions In New Financing

The capital raise, which will be a mix of equity and debt, comes ahead of a planned initial public offering in 2027 and after it more than doubled revenue last year and increased the number of mini-grids it operates to 400 from 200.

"That's the capital we need to be able to go and expand with our new aspirations based on the evidence that we can actually grow at 150 year over year," Manoj Sinha, the company's co-founder and CEO, said in an interview from Fort Collins in Colorado, where he is based. "We are in a capital-intensive business."

Husk , founded in 2008 in the Indian state of Bihar, is taking advantage of a drive by governments and multilateral lenders such as the World Bank to bring electricity in coming years to the more than 600 million Africans who lack access to it.

At the end of January, the World Bank and African Development Bank are convening a conference in Tanzania to raise additional funding for a programme that the two institutions have already said they will commit 30-billion to by 2030.

The power company in 2003 raised 103-million in debt and equity in a series-D funding round and now plans to tap existing and new investors to fund its expansion. It expects to achieve a similar revenue growth rate this year to 2024's.