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Whether you are running a roadside cafe, operating a clinic, or selling the catch of the day, off-grid refrigeration is not a small consideration in Africa. Buying a fridge, a generator to power it, and diesel for the generator costs hundreds or thousands of euros. Entrepreneurs are left with two environmentally wasteful choices: making this investment and running the generator nonstop, or throwing out stock at the end of the day. An affordable solar-powered fridge could be a clean third choice if one tricky question can be answered: what to do when the sunshine goes away?

Koolboks is answering that question and revamping the economics of the off-grid cold chain, starting from an unlikely point. Ayoola Dominic and Deborah Gael originally founded the company to make a powered cooler with a built-in sound system for European campsites and beach parties. Then the founders, who have family in Nigeria, realised that their technology could have a positive impact on a completely different market: small businesses across Africa that were forced to waste food or burn diesel because of inaccessible or inefficient refrigeration.

The next step was to turn this idea into a new kind of solar fridge: one that could solve the problem of intermittent sunshine without needing expensive batteries. Instead, the Koolboks uses an ice ‘battery’, a gel pack that freezes solid during sunny periods to maintain the fridge’s temperature for up to four days between charges. This made the complete Koolboks package – a fridge in a choice of sizes with an internal ice ‘battery’ and an independent solar panel – a simple and affordable solution for keeping goods cold or frozen anywhere, without the cost of a traditional battery or the carbon footprint of a generator.

Our support

When Koolboks applied for the advisory support from the GET.invest Finance Catalyst in 2021, several investors were already interested in the technology’s potential for small businesses in Africa, especially for women entrepreneurs. But Koolboks was encountering difficult terms and conditions from investors who weren’t yet convinced about the potential of direct-to-consumer sales at the base of Nigeria’s economic pyramid.

A central piece of the answer was a pay-as-you-go approach and remote monitoring technology that Koolboks had already piloted, which enables customers to pay as little as €9 a month to have refrigeration in their businesses. In Nigeria’s Delta State, they used this approach to bring Koolboks units to 250 women who catch and market fish. The customers were enthusiastic about an affordable solution that allowed them to keep fish fresh and branch into new areas like selling prepared meals.

Using evidence like this, GET.invest’s financial modelling became a key part of seed funding negotiations. The GET.invest Finance Catalyst built a detailed model that turned Koolboks’ existing accounting sheets and their successes into a forward-looking business plan. It incorporated five sizes of fridges with a combination of direct sales and 12- or 24-month pay-as-you-go options. Sales assumptions and contract preferences for each combination provided the basis for analysing the costs of servicing this portfolio, and a capital structure. With this model and Finance Catalyst transaction support, the founders were able to negotiate better terms with seed investors for a €2.5 million close in November 2022, positioning the company for rapid growth over the next two years.

The outcome

The GET.invest Finance Catalyst has also helped the management team make strategic business and capital structuring decisions, as they have a capital-intensive manufacturing effort ahead given the scale of their growth projections. Much of the seed funding will go towards inventory to meet high demands for their fridges, as well as working on plans to construct an assembly plant in Nigeria, which will allow Koolboks to source parts from a wider supplier base, assemble them locally, and sell units duty-free throughout West Africa.

Following the close, GET.invest is continuing to support Koolboks and is now working on financial modelling to support Series A fundraising, which aims at ten times the investment – €25 million – through combined equity and debt finance.

While the successful seed round is a step forward for Koolboks’s accessible zero-emissions technology, it is only the first step towards making their inspired combination of sun and ice a part of business across Africa. Koolboks are setting their sights on greening the least-served share of the refrigeration market, preventing waste, and making it a lot cleaner to keep things cool in rural Africa.

Disclaimer: This story was last updated in June 2023.