BURN secures $15 million to expand ECOA Electric Induction Cooker distribution in East Africa
On Friday, October 25, 2024, BURN, a Kenyan manufacturer of clean cooking appliances, announced a significant $15 million investment agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB). This funding will support the distribution of its ECOA Electric Induction Cooker to households across East Africa.
The EIB financing will enable BURN to offer its appliances through the Pay-As-You-Cook payment plan, a technology-driven solution that provides financing options for households that cannot afford to pay the full price upfront.
Headquartered in Kenya, BURN operates in nine countries and employs over 3,500 people. The ECOA Induction Cooker comes with a three-piece stainless steel cookware set, all manufactured in Kenya. This appliance is designed to reduce indoor air pollution, shorten cooking times, and help families save on cooking fuels. To date, BURN has distributed over five million clean cookstoves across Africa.
BURN’s electric and biomass stoves aim to tackle the issues linked to traditional cooking fuels like firewood and charcoal, which pose health, environmental, and economic challenges.
Peter Scott, Founder and CEO of BURN, stated that the company has already introduced its Pay-As-You-Cook electric cooking solution in Kenya and Tanzania. He emphasized that the EIB investment will enable BURN to transition over a million low-income households to cooking with electricity, with grids that are 80-95% powered by renewable energy.
This investment comes just a month after BURN secured $9.2 million from Marex to finance the production, distribution, and monitoring of clean cooking appliances in several African countries. This funding brought Key Carbon’s total investment in BURN’s carbon credit projects to $45 million across eight African nations.
Earlier in April 2024, BURN received over $12 million in funding led by Key Carbon Ltd. and supported by Cartesian, aimed at distributing electric cookstoves in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as biomass stoves in Nigeria, DRC, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
In the second quarter of 2024, BURN launched its first assembly plant in Kano, Nigeria, to enhance access to affordable clean cooking appliances for households in the country.
