Seed Capital Assistance Facility

Funding background

The Seed Capital Assistance Facility (SCAF) is designed to help renewable energy equity investment entity managers and development companies mitigate the risks associated with early-stage project development, accelerate and scale up deployment, and increase early-stage private sector investment and the number of renewable energy actors.

Eligibility

Eligibility criteria can be found here: https://scaf-energy.org/support/

SCAF’s regional focus is on Sub Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. SCAF funding can support activities in Least Developed Countries, Other Low-Income Countries and Lower-Middle Income Countries and Territories.

Other criteria:
More than 70% of investments in eligible countries and sectors
Novel strategy, business model or geography
Potential for replication and scalability in order to be commercially viable
Sufficient ESG-safeguards in place (company ESMS, ESIA according to IFC standards on project level, etc.).
SCAF funding must be matched 50% by the recipient

Financing

SCAF offers conditional and non-conditional, non-interest-bearing grants to co-finance fund, pipeline and project development, across three Support Lines.

Support Line 0 (SL0) supports equity investment entities during the fundraising period in achieving first financial close of their investment window. SL0 offers conditional grants, which provide co-financing of eligible activities of up to 50%, given matching funds of the partner are in place. SL0 grants must be reimbursed at financial close.

Support Line 1 (SL1) and Support Line 2 (SL2) are linked financing instruments that are deployed together as part of a framework agreement for a pipeline of projects over a 3+ year period. SL1 provides grants to help companies increase their project pipeline while delivering capacity building at the local level. SL2 provides co-financing in the form of conditional grants, which cover eligible activities of up to 70% of the total contract value. The co-financing helps cover development costs and get seeded projects to financial close. SL2 grants must be reimbursed at financial close of the project; co-funding from SL1 does not need to be reimbursed.

SL0 is limited to USD 500,000. SL1&2 are limited to a maximum of USD 2,500,000 (with a 30%/70% split).

Applying

Application document requirements are unspecified. Application may be submitted via email to info@scaf-energy.org