Persistent Energy launches Africa-focused climate fund with $52 million first close

Mauritius-based Persistent Energy has closed the first close of a new Africa-focused climate venture builder fund with commitments totalling about $52 million, aiming to bridge early-stage financing gaps for climate technology firms on the continent. The vehicle has drawn support from a mix of development finance institutions, foundations and private backers, and Persistent is targeting a $70 million final raise.

According to Persistent’s announcement, anchor investors in the fund include the Nordic Development Fund, the African Development Bank’s Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa (SEFA) and Financial Sector Deepening Africa Investments. Other backers named by Persistent are the Japan International Cooperation Agency, the Soros Economic Development Fund, Impact Fund Denmark, the Schmidt Family Foundation, the Cottier Donzé Foundation and an undisclosed family office.

The Nordic Development Fund has committed $12.5 million to the vehicle, structured as $10 million of equity alongside a $2.5 million Venture Building Facility grant, according to an NDF statement. The grant component is intended to bolster venture-building activities and lower early-stage operating risks, while the equity sits first in the capital stack with protections designed to reassure private partners. SEFA has separately committed $10 million, the African Development Bank said, describing the investment as catalytic in unlocking further capital for climate tech entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa. Financial Sector Deepening Africa’s investment was confirmed by FSDAi, which disclosed a GBP 2.5 million commitment aimed at demonstrating how climate finance can be mobilised for nascent ventures.

Persistent will write checks of up to $1 million into pre-seed through Series A companies, concentrating on productive-use energy assets and emissions-reduction technologies across transport, commercial and industrial solar, e-mobility, artificial intelligence and predictive weather analytics. The fund also reserves capital for follow-on rounds, an element Persistent said was difficult to guarantee under its prior, more ad hoc investment approach.

The vehicle uses a blended finance structure to reduce perceived risks and attract private capital, according to Persistent. “Part of building on climate impact ambitions is making sure that everyone is able to contribute to impactful investments that are scalable and will also earn a profit,” Wairimu Karanja said. She warned that geopolitical shifts have depressed some sources of funding and underlined the need to clarify risk for investors who often view African opportunities as higher risk than Western markets. “With geopolitics, some of the feelings among world leaders have caused a drop in funding,” Karanja added.

Persistent spun out of the nonprofit investor E+Co in 2012 with modest assets and has since developed a venture-building model, deploying earlier rounds into a portfolio of startups while retaining a portion of capital for deal warehousing. The firm’s co-founder and chief investment officer, Tobias Ruckstuhl, said the fund format will enable more predictable follow-on financing than the group’s previous cadence of frequent, smaller fundraising efforts. “How we’ve invested so far has provided us with a lot of flexibility and nimbleness,” Ruckstuhl said. “It did mean that we have to fundraise very frequently, meaning availability for follow-on funding was not as plannable.”

Persistent’s announcement sits amid a broader uptick in institutional interest in African climate tech. Industry moves this year include other vehicles raising mid-double-digit millions to back early-stage climate companies, with investors and development lenders aiming to marshal capital behind entrepreneurs addressing energy access, efficiency and adaptation needs. At the same time, development financiers continue to design instruments, grants, first-loss positions and blended structures, to de-risk early-stage investments and attract commercial partners.

While development institutions have signalled growing willingness to provide catalytic capital, the challenge for Africa’s climate entrepreneurs remains translating those commitments into easily accessible, predictable financing and operational support at scale. Persistent’s model, combining venture-building services with blended capital, seeks to answer that gap by offering both upfront investment and the follow-on reserves that can sustain growth through early commercialisation. The fund’s final size and its ability to deploy effectively across diverse markets will determine how much it accelerates the continent’s climate-tech ecosystem.