- New financing will build on Sistema.bio’s growth in 2021, a year in which the company increased its sales by nearly 70%, delivered carbon offsets to a growing carbon market and increased geographic coverage through new distributors.
- Financing will strengthen partnerships and distribution, carbon reduction activities, R&D efforts and overall operations in LATAM, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.
February 4, 2022 – Sistema.bio announces the close of a Series B investment round of USD$15.6MM that included a mix of equity, debt and non-dilutive capital to support the continued growth and scale of the company’s innovative waste-to-energy technology and business model.
The round was led by an equity investment from KawiSafi Ventures and matched by AXA IM Alts, a global leader in alternative investments, through the AXA IM Impact Investing strategy. Existing investors Engie RDE, EU ElectriFI fund, Chroma Impact, Blink CV and Co Capital also participated in the round, and Triodos Bank provided additional working capital financing.
Sistema.bio, an award-winning enterprise, provides access to innovative biodigester technology, training, and financing for farmers to address the challenges of poverty, food security, and climate change. Sistema.bio’s patented technology allows farmers around the world to efficiently convert their waste into renewable energy and biofertilizer. In 2021, Sistema.bio reached several growth milestones, with over 14,000 units sold and a new manufacturing facility in India.
Sistema.bio was founded in 2010 in Mexico. With a deployable, robust and impactful biogas system, Sistema.bio digesters are specifically designed to serve a wide range of farms and sanitation projects. Due to its prefabricated technology, as well as its replicable business model, Sistema.bio has the potential to reach over one billion people in over 200 million farms. Today, with over 200,000 users in 30 countries, the company is the global leader in distributed biogas technology, service and financing and has operational hubs in Mexico, Colombia, Kenya and India.
“Our team at KawiSafi are very excited to begin this partnership with Sistema.bio and support them in this global scaling phase of their growth” said Marcus Watson, Director at KawiSafi. “Sistema.bio has perfected their distributed biogas technology which is modular and easy-to-use so that it can serve the whole spectrum of small to large farms. Their products are now being used by hundreds of thousands of people across three continents to meet diverse energy needs, from domestic (cooking, heating) to productive (agro-processing) uses as well as biofertilizer to increase farm yields. We see huge potential in Sistema.bio’s solution to reduce GHG emissions at the farm level and make a significant dent in the global climate crisis.”
Jonathan Dean, Head of Impact Investing at AXA IM Alts, commented: “We are delighted to invest in Sistema.bio, one of the largest integrated biogas companies in the world focused on small-scale agriculture. By converting polluting waste into high-value biofuels and sustainable agricultural inputs through proprietary cutting-edge technology, Sistema.bio’s corporate mission directly aligns with AXA IM Alts’ impact objectives to promote resource efficiency and innovative solutions to climate change through its investments.”
This Series B investment round follows a Seed and Series A equity investments. Sistema.bio has been successful at raising a combination of equity, debt and non-dilutive capital. In addition to the existing investors that joined this round, KawiSafi Ventures and AXA IM Alts join Alphamundi, Beneficial Returns, Dila Capital, EcoEnterprises Fund, Factor[e], KIVA, Lendahand, OPES Fund, OpenRoad Alliance and Satila as investors of Sistema.bio.
“Our team has been able to create a lot of incredible momentum and growth in 2021, and with the new funding we will continue to build the team, partnerships and structures required to deliver the best biogas products, services, financing and certified impacts at scale,” said co-founder and CEO Alex Eaton. “We have spent well over a decade creating the technology and model to support smallholder farmers to become more sustainable, independent, and productive. We can now do that at scale, while driving significant methane and CO2 reductions on farms and strengthening global food systems.”
Sistema.bio has announced that they aim to deliver clean and renewable energy for 1 million farmers and their families by 2025. “We are really excited to have such impact-driven shareholders and to see such an incredible global commitment to creating a climate-smart, sustainable, and equitable food system,” said Eaton. “The time is now for ambitious climate projects, and we intend to lead the charge for smallholder farmers.”
About Sistema.bio:
Sistema.bio works through three axes: technology, capacity building, and financing to address poverty, food security, and climate change. It manufactures and distributes high-quality, affordable, and modular hybrid biodigesters that enable farmers worldwide to be energy-efficient and fertilizer independent. By providing flexible repayment plans and comprehensive monitoring services, farmers can acquire and operate biodigesters to collect and treat farm waste, resulting in clean biogas and rich biofertilizer. Sistema.bio aims to deliver clean energy and organic fertilizer to over 30,000* new farms in 2022.
Sistema.bio is the 2019 Ashden Clean Cooking Awards winner, Schwab Foundation Social Innovation awardee by the World Economic Forum, and the 2017 Buckminster Fuller Institute Finalist. Alex Eaton, CEO and Co-founder, is an Ashoka and Endeavor Fellow since 2011.
*Source: Sistema.bio data. All figures as at 31 December 2021.
About KawiSafi:
KawiSafi Ventures is a Kenya-based fund manager focused on inclusive climate investments across Africa. Its first fund, KawiSafi Fund I, is a $70 million fund focused on energy access in East Africa. KawiSafi I reached its first close in 2016 and has since invested in 10 of the leading companies driving the energy transition across the continent. It targets firms at the nexus of radical affordability and rapid decarbonization which are delivering or enabling affordable, clean energy for low- and middle-income markets. To date, KawiSafi I’s portfolio has impacted the lives of 134 million people and helped mitigate 24 million tonnes of CO2. KawiSafi Ventures is sponsored by Acumen Capital Partners, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acumen.
About AXA IM Alts:
AXA IM Alts is part of AXA Investment Managers and a global leader in alternative investments with c. €168 billion of assets under management as at 30 September 2021, across real assets (real estate & infrastructure), private debt & alternative credit and private equity & hedge funds. AXA IM Alts employs over 750 people located in 16 offices around the world and serves the needs of more than 500 clients from Europe, North America, Asia Pacific and Middle East.** We are a global leader in real assets investment with c. €102 billion of assets under management, the number one property portfolio and asset manager in Europe,*** and one of the largest worldwide.
**Source: AXA IM data (unaudited). All figures as at 30 September 2021.
***Source: INREV Fund Manager Survey, June 2021. #1 largest European managers in total real estate assets under management.
