New GX raises $240M debut fund for African clean energy, anchored by DBSA
What's the deal? Airnergize CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the clean technology platform of South Africa's New GX CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, has reached a final close of R3.89bn ($239.7m) for its debut renewables fund. The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA)Dealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → anchored the raise, committing R240m ($14.78m) as lead development finance institution.
The fund drew a syndicate of South Africa's major commercial balance sheets, including RMB VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Standard BankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, NedbankDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and parent New GX Capital, alongside state development capital.
What's the endgame? Fund I targets energy, water, and gas assets across Southern and broader Africa. Initial deployment focuses on commercial and industrial solar photovoltaic and energy storage in South Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and the Indian Ocean islands.
The pipeline extends to utility-scale generation, transmission infrastructure, water utilities, and gas distribution networks. Airnergize, a black-owned and controlled fund manager, acts purely as asset owner and fund manager rather than a contractor.
Why now? The close lands amid policy efforts to expand Southern Africa's regional energy grid and pull private capital into utility assets. Airnergize is an investor in the Pulse InfrastructureDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → consortium, one of seven groups pre-qualified under South Africa's Independent Transmission Projects programme, a framework to expand high-voltage power lines.
“Getting to R3.89bn, with this calibre of investor around the table, tells you the market believes in what we are building,” said Khudusela Pitje, group chief executive of New GX Capital.
The signal: The deal shows a growing reliance on blended finance to address Southern Africa's infrastructure gap, using public capital to de-risk investment and draw in commercial money. As Mahlatsi Molokomme, principal investment officer at the DBSA, put it: “Backing a fund alongside commercial investors allows us to crowd in private capital rather than compete with it.”
Read more: launchbaseafrica.com
