Gullspång Invest is a Stockholm based family office with a long-term investment philosophy. Gullspång Invest funds team of entrepreneurs who are committed to building companies making a big positive impact. The company is a purpose-driven, for profit, with passion, and are seeking long-term partnerships with like-minded entrepreneurs.

Gullspång Invest

Chalmers Ventures is a Swedish firm that specializes in coaching, financing, and business development. They invest in companies which find themselves at the initial stage of their development. The company was founded in 2015.

Chalmers Ventures AB

TRINE

Stride is on a mission to support Vietnam’s transition to a sustainable future through making solar energy and batteries more affordable and accessible.

Altech Group aims at expanding access to clean, renewable, and affordable energy both for poor-grid and off-grid households.

REDAVIA offers solar power for businesses in West and East Africa. The REDAVIA system is based on a pre-configured model, including high-performance solar modules and electrical components. It is easy to ship, set up, scale, and redeploy. Businesses benefit from a cost-effective, reliable, clean energy solution with minimal upfront investment or technical skills.

Solarise Africa is a pan-African Energy-as-a-Service company. Through their smart financing solutions, they unlock possibilities and empower their partners to thrive and actively drive Africa’s progress. They provide reliable and affordable decentralised energy solutions energy for businesses in Africa. Solarise Africa works with a selected group of renewable energy solution companies and collaborates very closely with partners to provide a range of tailor-made financial solutions. For more information, please visit www.solariseafrica.com

Daystar Power specialises in providing solar power and energy efficiency solutions for businesses in the commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors that result in significant reduction of power costs, diesel consumption and pollution.

Easy Solar is a leading energy distribution company in West Africa, financing high-quality solar products and appliances for those with limited or no access to the conventional grid. Customers can finance their purchase over time by paying in weekly or monthly installments, with the option to pay via cash or mobile money. To date, Easy Solar has reached more than 400,000 beneficiaries, distributed through its extensive network of agents and outlets throughout Sierra Leone and Liberia.

SolarHome (www.solar-home.asia) is the pioneer in Pay-As-You-Go (“PAYG”) Solar for off-grid households in Southeast Asia.  SolarHome installs integrated solar energy and appliance units in customers’ homes, and offers radically affordable “rent-to-own” plans of energy service subscription.  This dramatically lowers the barriers to adoption of solar technology by the bottom-of-pyramid clients.   SolarHome is delivering a significant social impact in its addressable market of 27 million households across Southeast Asia living outside of the electric grid.  Headquartered in Singapore, SolarHome presently operates in Myanmar.  SolarHome was seeded and developed by FORUM, the largest fintech venture builder in Emerging Asia.

EcoEnergy is a pay-as-you-go solar company distributing electricity to off-grid rural areas in Pakistan

Rensource is a new type of energy company built as a financial services business.  Rensource offers a turnkey business opportunity that allows qualifying companies throughout Nigeria and West Africa to start selling Power-as-a-Service (“PaaS”) to their customers. Rensource generates electricity using small solar-hybrid systems that are installed in the premises of the final customer. At the heart of Rensource lies an internal “bank”: a balance sheet financing the solar-hybrid systems, and a credit operation underwriting and servicing the monthly collections from final customers.   Rensource´s mission is to make Nigeria the first country in the world relying predominantly on distributed renewables-based power generation.

Pawame's mission is to provide energy access as a gateway to enhancing the quality of life of off-grid communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. Their solar home systems are capable of leapfrogging traditional power lines and offer an innovative, affordable rent-to-own, pay-as-you-go business model. Their goal is to use their PAYGO platform, customer relationships and data to offer life-changing products and services like electrical appliances, micro-insurance, education loans, and remote health services, thereby making a meaningful contribution to global poverty alleviation.

Azuri Technologies is a commercial provider of PayGo solar systems to rural off-grid communities. With the widest reach of any provider in sub Saharan Africa, the company is addressing the problem of energy access which affects the 1.3 billion people around the world who lack access to the grid. Azuri has used mobile technology to turn a development challenge into a business challenge through its Azuri solar home systems, which allow users to pay for solar power on a pay-as-you-go basis, just like they do for their phones and kerosene. This provides clean, safe renewable power to families at about half the cost of the kerosene it replaces, without the need for any government subsidies or tariffs. Azuri’s HQ is in Cambridge, United Kingdom, with staff based in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Ethiopia and Tanzania and presence in 11 countries across sub Saharan Africa.

TRINE uses crowdinvesting to enable people to support solar energy projects, while also delivering a return to the investors. We provide the expertise, organization and the platform for enabling secure investments in carefully selected projects and bring finance to local solar entrepreneurs in emerging nations to electrify the world. Our crowdinvestors will fund the initial cost for installing the solar system, over time this loan is paid back with interest by the value of electricity produced from the solar system.  With our solution we will connect money sitting in banks, with solar entrepreneurs like yourself in need of financing. By doing so, we will not only enable people to earn a return on an impact investment and  democratize those investment options, but also help you to elevate poor communities out of their energy poverty and improve their living standard.

Trine is a Swedish fintech company that operates an innovative crowdfunding platform connecting investors in developed countries with off-grid solar energy projects in emerging markets. The company aims to bridge the financing gap for solar companies in these markets by offering alternative finance solutions through its crowdfunding model. Trine's mission is to democratize finance and enable people to invest in a sustainable future.

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Trine

Swedish firm Trine backs Vietnamese solar energy startup Stride | e27

Stride

Altech Group

Redavia

Alphamundi

Lendahand

Solarise Africa

Daystar Power

Easy Solar

Trine is a Swedish fintech company that operates an innovative crowdfunding platform connecting investors in developed countries with off-grid solar energy projects in emerging markets. The company aims to bridge the financing gap for solar companies in these markets by offering alternative finance solutions through its crowdfunding model. Trine's mission is to democratize finance and enable people to invest in a sustainable future.
On the Trine platform, investors can lend money to off-grid solar installations, mainly in East Africa. The funds raised are used to finance solar home systems, commercial and industrial solar installations, and more recently, electric mobility solutions like solar-powered forklifts. As of November 2017, Trine's crowd investors had lent out over EUR 2 million, providing access to electricity to over 180,000 people in East Africa.
Trine generates revenue through interest rate sharing with investors, arrangement fees on successfully funded loans, and partnerships with corporations. The company's business model allows for profit while creating environmental and social impact by enabling access to clean, affordable energy in energy-deprived regions.
Trine has a comprehensive due diligence process for assessing potential solar partners, including evaluating their financial performance, management team, market environment, and more. Partners are rated from A+ to B- based on this assessment, with only the top-rated companies receiving funding through the platform.

Starling Bank is a digital, mobile-only bank based in the UK, offering personal and business accounts. Founded in 2014 by former Allied Irish Banks COO Anne Boden, Starling received its banking license from regulators in July 2016. The bank operates without any physical branches and provides services entirely through its mobile app.
Starling offers various personal account options, including current accounts, joint accounts, euro accounts, and teen accounts. Its multi-currency feature allows customers to hold, send, and receive euros for free, with a 0.4% conversion fee for foreign transactions. The app provides real-time spending insights, categorized expenses, budgeting tools, and the ability to set aside money in "Virtual Change Jars." Customers can also apply for overdrafts and loans through the app.
For businesses, Starling offers digital business accounts with powerful money management tools, invoicing, tax assessment, and integration with accounting software. Businesses can also hold and transact in euros and US dollars through dedicated currency accounts.
Starling facilitates international money transfers to 36 countries in 20 currencies, with competitive exchange rates and fees. Customers can opt for direct SWIFT bank-to-bank transfers for a flat fee of GBP 5.50.
In May 2023, Starling Bank reported a record pre-tax profit of GBP 195 million, a sixfold increase from the previous year. Anne Boden stepped down as CEO but remains a non-executive director and shareholder.

Starling Bank

Aspiration is a fintech company that offers a suite of green financial services products aimed at empowering individuals and businesses to combat climate change through their everyday spending and saving activities. The company provides sustainable checking and savings accounts, credit cards, and investment accounts that are fossil fuel-free and enable customers to track their personal sustainability scores.
Aspiration's key product is the Aspiration Spend & Save account, which offers a competitive 3.00% annual percentage yield (APY) on balances up to USD 10,000 as of October 2022. This cash management account comes with a debit card, mobile check deposit, bill pay, and up to USD 2 million in FDIC insurance coverage. Aspiration also has the Redwood Fund and Redwood IRA, investment products focused on sustainable companies committed to ethnic diversity, gender diversity, ethical practices, and addressing climate change.
In April 2024, Aspiration's consumer financial services brand was spun off as a separate company called Mission Financial Partners, led by CEO Tim Newell. This move allowed Aspiration to concentrate on serving businesses through its carbon credit offerings while Mission Financial Partners focused on expanding its suite of climate-friendly consumer products like banking, credit, lending, investment, and insurance solutions. A key aspect of Aspiration's approach is planting trees, with the company claiming to have supported the planting of over 100 million trees as of April 2024.

Aspiration

Classy is a cloud-based fundraising platform offering a comprehensive suite of tools to help nonprofits create engaging online donation experiences and manage fundraising campaigns effectively. Its key features include customizable donation pages, peer-to-peer fundraising capabilities, crowdfunding campaigns, event ticketing, and integration with popular CRM systems like Salesforce.
Classy's platform provides nonprofits with the ability to design branded, mobile-responsive donation forms and fundraising pages. Organizations can accept one-time and recurring donations, as well as process payments through multiple gateways, including PayPal, Venmo, and credit cards. The platform's peer-to-peer fundraising tools empower supporters to create personal fundraising pages and share them across social media platforms, fostering a sense of community and friendly competition through features like fundraising leaderboards and team fundraising goals.
For events, Classy offers event registration, ticketing, and attendee management functionalities, streamlining the process of organizing and promoting fundraising events. The platform also supports crowdfunding campaigns, enabling nonprofits to tap into this popular form of online giving.
Classy's pricing model consists of an annual subscription fee and transaction fees for each donation processed through the platform. As of May 2024, the transaction fees stand at 2.4% + USD 0.30 for credit cards and 2.5% + USD 0.30 for PayPal/Venmo.
Key customers and partnerships
Classy has been widely adopted by nonprofits of various sizes and causes, facilitating the raising of tens of thousands of dollars for their missions. The platform has garnered praise for its user-friendly interface, robust features, and seamless integration capabilities with popular tools like Salesforce and Facebook.
Classy's partnership with Facebook has been particularly noteworthy, enabling nonprofits to leverage the social media platform's reach for peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. This integration has streamlined the process for volunteers and supporters to raise funds on behalf of the organizations they support.

Classy

Tandem Bank is a digital challenger bank based in the UK, focused on providing environmentally-friendly financial products and services. The bank aims to help customers reduce their carbon footprint while offering competitive savings accounts, mortgages, personal loans, and home improvement financing options.
Tandem utilizes open banking technology to securely connect with customers' existing bank accounts, allowing seamless transfers into their Tandem savings accounts. The bank offers instant access savings accounts with variable interest rates up to 4.90% AER as of April 2024, as well as fixed-term savings accounts ranging from one to three years with interest rates up to 5.07% AER.
In addition to savings products, Tandem provides residential and buy-to-let mortgages, with discounts for energy-efficient properties based on their EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) ratings. The bank also offers personal loans, home loans for expenses like renovations or debt consolidation, and motor finance for used vehicles through approved dealerships.
Tandem's "Green Lending" initiatives allocate a portion of customer deposits toward financing eco-friendly home improvements such as solar panel installations and energy-efficient window replacements. In 2023, the bank facilitated over GBP 523 million in green home improvement lending, contributing to the avoidance of 74,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
In January 2022, Tandem acquired the consumer lender Oplo, further expanding its product offerings and solidifying its position as a "fairer, greener digital bank" in the UK market. The bank discontinued its automatic savings features in January 2021 to concentrate on developing its green banking strategy.

Tandem

Cushon is a London-based fintech company founded in 2014 that offers workplace savings and investment products, including ISAs, investment accounts, and pensions. Its key offerings include a workplace ISA, master trust pension, junior and lifetime ISAs, and a general investment account. Cushon's products are designed to be simple and user-friendly, with a mobile app that provides a personalized experience and helps engage savers with their financial goals.
Cushon's unique selling point is the "Net Zero Now" pension, launched in January 2021, which is claimed to be the world's first net zero pension. This pension aims to minimize carbon emissions from investments as much as possible and offsets any remaining emissions through carbon offsetting projects. As of April 2022, Cushon had approximately GBP 1.7 billion in assets under management, making it the fifth largest master trust pension provider in the UK. By February 2023, its assets under management had grown to GBP 1.85 billion.
In February 2023, NatWest Group acquired an 85% stake in Cushon for GBP 144 million, with the remaining equity retained by Cushon management. This acquisition allowed NatWest to offer Cushon's workplace savings and pension products to its commercial mid-market customers, enhancing its financial wellbeing services.

Cushon

Digital banks that deploy customer deposits to sustainable uses such as renewable energy projects and social housing.

Offers a platform for individuals and businesses to invest in sustainability-related companies, projects, and investment portfolios.

Solutions that allow investors to obtain sustainability-related information on their portfolios such as real-world impact (water savings, CO2 savings, etc.) and ESG-related compliance.

Companies that provide the digital infrastructure for financial institutions to offer their own sustainable finance products.

AI/ML is used to support robo advisory functions and allocate funds into ESG-based investments

Startups in this hub focus on ESG-related financial services such as sustainable investing

Trine

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