South African startup Yellow has raised an undisclosed Series C funding round as it seeks to reach more customers across Africa. The company provides finance for solar energy products and digital devices, with a focus on people who may not have easy access to electricity, smartphones, or formal credit.
The new funding comes at an important point for Yellow. The company says it has now served more than one million customers. It aims to use the new capital to widen its reach and help more people gain access to electricity and the internet.
Convergence Partners led the Series C round. The investment also builds on an earlier relationship between the investor and Yellow. The size of the new round has not been made public.
A Company Built Around Access
Yellow was founded in 2018 by Mike Heyink and Maya Stewart. The company first started in Malawi, where it focused on solar home systems for households that had limited access to the power grid.
Over time, Yellow expanded its business beyond solar products. It added smartphones and other digital devices to its finance model. This change allowed the company to address two major needs at the same time: access to energy and access to digital services.
The company uses an asset finance model. Instead of asking customers to pay the full price of a product at once, Yellow gives them a way to pay over time. This can make products such as solar systems and smartphones easier for lower-income customers to afford.
Yellow also works with a network of sales agents. These agents help customers choose products and apply for finance. The company uses its digital technology platform to support this process.
Solar Power Remains a Major Part of the Business
Solar energy remains at the heart of Yellow’s business. Its model focuses on households that may live far from large electricity networks or may not have reliable grid power.
The company’s solar products can provide basic power for homes. Earlier products included small solar home systems with a panel, battery, lights, a phone charger and a radio.
In 2023, Yellow said its small solar system was its most popular product. At that time, the system had a 6W to 10W solar panel and a 20Wh to 50Wh battery. It also came with four lights, a cellphone charger and a radio. Customers could also choose larger solar systems.
This approach gives customers more than a source of light. A solar system can help a family charge phones, use lights after dark and access basic digital services without full access to a traditional power grid.
Smartphones Add a Digital Layer
Yellow’s work with smartphones has become another major part of its business. A phone can act as a gateway to communication, education, work, online services and financial tools.
For many people, the main problem is not the lack of demand for a smartphone. The bigger issue can be the upfront price. Yellow’s finance model seeks to solve that problem by allowing customers to pay for devices over time.
The company says its smartphone finance business has more than doubled year on year. This shows why digital devices have become an important part of Yellow’s growth plan.
The combination of solar power and smartphones also gives Yellow a clear place in the wider African technology market. One product can help a household get electricity, while the other can help that same household connect to the digital economy.
More Than One Million Customers
Yellow has reached a major milestone with more than one million customers across its markets. The company now operates in seven key African countries: Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
The company also has more than 200 employees. Its growth shows how demand for affordable energy and digital products continues to create opportunities for financial technology firms across Africa.
Yellow’s target is much larger than its current customer base. The company wants to serve 10 million customers with access to electricity and the internet by 2030.
The new Series C capital can help the company move toward that goal. More finance can allow Yellow to support more customers, expand its sales network and provide more products in its existing markets.
Convergence Partners Deepens Its Support
Convergence Partners has led Yellow’s new Series C round. The investment is not the firm’s first major support for the company.
In 2023, Convergence Partners led Yellow’s $14 million Series B round. The Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund, managed by Triple Jump, also took part, along with follow-on investment from Platform Investment Partners. That round helped Yellow expand its solar and smartphone finance business.
The Series B round brought Yellow’s total debt and equity funding at that time to $45 million.
Convergence Partners’ decision to lead the Series C shows that the investor continues to see value in Yellow’s model. It also suggests that the company has made enough progress since the previous round to attract more capital for its next phase of growth.
Why the Business Model Matters
Yellow sits at the point where finance, clean energy and digital access meet. These areas are closely linked in many African markets.
A household without reliable electricity can face limits on work, study and communication. At the same time, a person without a smartphone can miss access to online services and parts of the modern economy.
Yellow’s model tries to address both problems through finance. Customers can get useful assets without the need to pay the entire cost at the start.
The company also uses AI-enabled credit scoring to assess customers who seek finance. This can help Yellow make credit decisions in markets where many people may not have a long formal credit history.
Expansion Across Seven Markets
Yellow’s current markets give it a broad base for future growth. Malawi remains an important part of its history, while Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria give the company access to different customer groups and markets.
Each country has its own economic conditions, power infrastructure and consumer needs. That makes expansion more complex than simply selling the same product in every location.
Yellow must also manage issues such as distribution, customer finance, currency changes and the cost of reaching rural communities. These challenges can affect companies that provide asset finance across several African countries.
Still, the company’s customer milestone suggests that it has built a model that can work at a large scale.
From a Solar Startup to a Wider Fintech Business
Yellow’s journey shows how an African startup can grow by expanding from one clear problem into a wider set of customer needs.
The company began with solar energy in Malawi. It later added smartphones and digital finance. Today, its business covers both energy access and digital connectivity.
That shift has helped Yellow move beyond the idea of a simple solar company. It now operates more like an asset finance platform with a strong focus on products that can improve daily life.
The Series C gives the company fresh capital at a time when it has already crossed the one-million-customer mark. Its next challenge will be to turn that scale into an even larger network while keeping its products affordable and its finance model strong.
What Comes Next for Yellow
Yellow has set a clear long-term goal: 10 million customers by 2030. The new Series C funding can support the company as it works toward that target.
The exact value of the investment remains undisclosed, so it is not possible to measure the size of the round against previous funding rounds. What is clear is how Yellow plans to use the capital: reach more customers, widen access to solar power and smartphones, and deepen its presence across Africa.
For Yellow, the opportunity is large. Millions of people across the continent still face gaps in electricity access and digital connectivity. By combining finance with products that people need, the company hopes to make those gaps smaller.
The Series C marks another major step in that effort. With more than one million customers already served and seven African markets on its map, Yellow now has a much larger base from which to grow. Its progress will depend on how well it can manage finance, distribution and customer demand as it moves toward its goal of 10 million customers by 2030.
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