Nigeria’s Infibranches Raises US$2m From Shell-Backed Impact Firm

Nigeria-based energy distribution and collection fintech startup Infibranches Technologies has secured US$2 million in a funding round raised from All On, Nairametrics reported. All On is the impact investment arm of oil and gas multinational Shell.

The funding will be used to accelerate customer acquisition in current markets, improve existing products, and launch new products and services in the energy distribution sector, Infibranches CEO Olusola Owoyemi, said in the statement.

Further, funding will also support inventory and agent acquisition, and product and technology development. It will also finance working capital for the distribution of Solar Home Systems for both household and commercial users in Nigeria, especially in the Niger Delta.

Infibranches provides a payment integration solution to aid energy distribution

Infibranches provides payment and distribution management solutions for service providers in the Nigerian renewable energy sector. The company was founded in 2019 and is based in Lagos.

The company has two products currently active in the market, last-mile platform OmniBranches and payments platform Green Energy Plug.

The fintech solutions enabled by these products include real time reporting and reconciliation, cash-out and commission management, and payment receipts.

Infibranches has developed a single payment integration solution for Solar Home Systems in Nigeria. The solution enables payment collection through an agent network that includes banks and mobile money agents.

The company is also supported by the Nigerian Off-Grid Market Acceleration Programme. The programme is a not-for-profit backed by Shell Foundation, USAID, and UK aid.

“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,”

Dr. Wiebe Boer, All On CEO, said.