Odyssey Energy Solutions, a female-led startup, has raised $74 million to build the financing rails powering Africa's shift to solar, one small business at a time. Al Mada Ventures invested in the round alongside co-investors FMO and Broadscale, backing Odyssey to drive impact across the continent.

The raise comes against a difficult backdrop for businesses across the continent: diesel prices continue to rise, and Nigeria now spends more on diesel generators than on grid electricity. Odyssey offers the procurement and financing infrastructure that makes it possible for businesses to replace that diesel with solar power. Much of this shift falls under the banner of distributed energy, meaning power generated at or near where it will be used, such as the business-scale solar systems Odyssey helps finance.

Co-founded and led by Emily McAteer and Piyush Mathur, Odyssey closed the $74 million round with $27 million in equity and $47 million in debt. The capital will expand the company's procurement offering to solar companies, enabling installers and EPC (engineering, procurement and construction) firms to seize the energy transition opportunity, scale, and meet soaring demand across the continent.

The company addresses a structural gap in emerging markets: installers are seeing a massive increase in demand but struggle to access finance from traditional lenders. Equipment procurement is the most expensive part of any solar project, typically making up 60-70% of total project cost. Because equipment must be paid for upfront, before installers themselves get paid, the financing shortfall lands at the most expensive stage of a project.

Odyssey bridges that gap by purchasing equipment on behalf of solar companies, with repayment aligned to when the installer gets paid.

Since launch, Odyssey has made over $3.6 billion available on its platform to solar companies across emerging markets and connected more than 6,000 solar companies across 50 countries with the finance and equipment they need to scale.

"Capital for African energy has never been the problem; getting it to the companies that build the projects is. Odyssey built the rails that solve this, and every serious player in distributed energy increasingly runs on them. That infrastructure position, combined with an exceptional team, is why we invested," said Omar Laalej of Al Mada Ventures.

"Demand for distributed energy is accelerating at an unprecedented pace. Rising fuel costs are hitting emerging markets the hardest, against a backdrop of declining solar and storage costs and a changing global solar supply chain. The task at hand now is speed: how quickly we can get installers the equipment and capital they need to meet this demand. This raise is about meeting this unique moment," added Emily McAteer, CEO of Odyssey Energy Solutions.

Odyssey plans to raise another $50 million in debt within the next six months and is expanding beyond solar into procurement and supply chain financing for the e-mobility sector.