Nigerian solar-powered cooling startup Koolboks has secured a credit facility from TLG Capital, which it will use to fund inventory and expand its retail and appliance partnerships.
Launched in 2018 by Ayoola Dominic and Deborah Gaël, Koolboks sells solar-powered freezers and appliances to traders, small businesses and corporate customers in Nigeria and beyond. Its products combine solar panels, patented ice-battery technology and connected pay-as-you-go capabilities, allowing them to provide cooling day and night, including during power outages.
Koolboks has sold more than 15,000 units to date and has shipped to over 25 markets. It assembles its products in Lagos and employs around 400 people across Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. Its Koolbuy platform extends its pay-as-you-go technology to household appliances from major brands.
The new facility combines TLG’s private credit with a guarantee from Cascador, a Nigeria-focused platform for growth-stage founders that recently invested in Koolboks, delivered in partnership with Morgan Stanley. It will give Koolboks the working capital needed to meet growing demand across African markets.
“TLG recognised what our product means for our customers, and found the right kind of financing to back it at the pace that we needed,” said Dominic, who serves as Koolboks’ CEO. “We have serious ambitions to address cold-chain infrastructure across Africa, and this facility gives us the capital and support to chase them.”
The deal takes TLG’s commitments to US$65 million across 16 Nigerian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) over the past two years. It is the second deal TLG and Cascador have completed together in the space of a few weeks, having provided a US$3 million credit facility to Nigeria’s Drive45 Mobility.
“Koolboks has built an incredibly innovative product that addresses critical challenges for individuals and SMEs. Its ability to scale in recent years is a testament to the ingenuity of its cold chain solution,” said Isha Doshi, co-founder and partner at TLG Capital.Trish Thomas, chief executive officer of Cascador, said her organisation had partnered with Koolboks for several years.
“Their product clearly solves a real problem that exists across countless markets, and they are building at a scale we always believed was possible,” she said. “Cascador finds local champions, but the question is always around positioning them with the right type of financing. With two deals closed in a matter of weeks, TLG and Cascador have identified a scalable product that will allow us to reach the businesses, countries, and sectors that matter most.”