Persistent Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund, LP (FMO-66068)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Cameroon
  • Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Ethiopia
  • Ghana
  • Ivory Coast
  • Kenya
  • Nigeria
  • Senegal
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Netherlands Development Finance Company (FMO)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Dec 11, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Persistent Energy Capital LLC
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 2.94 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 2.5
Converted using 2025-12-11 exchange rate.
Grant Amount (USD)
$ 2.94 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 2.5
Converted using 2025-12-11 exchange rate.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ FMO website

Updated in EWS Apr 9, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Feb 27, 2026

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Can you contribute information about this project?
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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

As stated on the project disclosure page, FMO will provide a EUR 2.5 million Development Contribution grant to the Persistent ACV Fund's Venture Building (VB) Facility. The objective is to strengthen the performance, scalability, and investment readiness of early-stage CleanTech enterprises by providing strategic, financial, and operational support. Activities include tailored post-investment as well as pre-investment Venture Building for promising pipeline companies in the areas of finance, legal and technology as well as governance support, ESG integration, improved reporting and milestone tracking.

The project aims to create a bankable pipeline by enabling early-stage companies to strengthen their financial performance, improve ESG compliance, and enhance both climate and gender impact. The project is labelled Climate Mitigation (principal) and Gender (significant).

This project aligns with FMO's 2030 Strategy and the aims of the Market Creation Programme, supporting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, climate action, and reduced inequalities. Early-stage CleanTech ventures in Sub-Saharan Africa face persistent barriers such as limited access to early-stage capital, talent gaps, governance constraints, and high perceived investment risk. The VB Facility directly addresses these barriers by offering structured, high-quality Venture Building services.

The initiative targets markets including Nigeria, DRC, Ethiopia, Ghana, Senegal, Cote d' Ivoire, Kenya and Cameroon many of which are LICs and FCAS. It also advances Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) and Gender Lens Investing (GLI) through Persistent's 2X-aligned investment criteria and dedicated support to women-led enterprises. FMO's grant provides clear financial additionality, as the VB Facility is grant-based, ring-fenced from commercial flows, and enables activities that private capital will not fund. It further supports companies in meeting global ESG and impact standards and contributes to long-term ecosystem strengthening and improved pipeline quality for DFIs and private investors.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the FMO, the customer is the Persistent Africa Climate Venture Builder Fund, a new closed-ended fund anchored on the track record of Persistent Energy Capital LLC, a climate-focused investor active across Sub-Saharan Africa since 2012.

Persistent provides early-stage equity and hands-on Venture Building support to companies developing clean energy and climate-tech solutions, including residential and commercial solar, energy efficiency, e-mobility, and associated enabling technologies. Persistent has to date managed or advised on over US$ 265 million in climate assets across advisory mandates and balance-sheet investments and has demonstrated strong performance in early-stage climate ventures.

The Persistent ACV Fund includes a dedicated Venture Building Facility, structured as a ring-fenced facility to deliver targeted post-investment and pre-investment support to 25-30 CleanTech enterprises across Africa.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

Financial Intermediary - Persistent Energy Capital LLC:

Website: https://persistent.energy/ 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

As part of FMO's ex-ante disclosure (disclosure of transactions before contracting), you can send requests or questions for additional information to: disclosure@fmo.nl

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF FMO

Communities who believe they will be negatively affected by a project funded by the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) may be able to file a complaint with the Independent Complaints Mechanism, which is the joint independent accountability mechanism of the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and the German Investment Corporation (KfW). A complaint can be filed in writing, by email, post, or online. The complaint can be filed in English or any other language of the complainant. The Independent Complaints Mechanism is comprised of a three-member Independent Expert Panel and it can provide either problem-solving, compliance review or both, in either order. Additional information about this accountability mechanism, including a guide and template for filing a complaint, can be found at: https://www.fmo.nl/independent-complaints-mechanism

How it works

How it works