Yellow Door Energy (Yellow Door), a UAE-based solar developer, has announced that it has raised $65 million in a Series A financing round to scale its investments in solar energy and energy efficiency solutions in the Middle East and Africa. According to Yellow Door, this is one of Middle East’s largest private placements in distributed solar.

The investment comes from International Finance Corporation (IFC), a World Bank member, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. (Mitsui), Equinor Energy Ventures (Equinor), Arab Petroleum Investments Corporation (APICORP), and UAE-based Adenium Energy Capital (Adenium), the founding investor of Yellow Door Energy since 2015.

The funding marks an important milestone for Yellow Door Energy, which has doubled its revenue since last year and has an impressive portfolio of customers including multinational corporations in consumer goods, retail, logistics, among many others. Yellow Door Energy provides solar leases and energy savings contracts to commercial and industrial businesses to help them reduce energy costs, improve power reliability and lower carbon emissions.

Jeremy Crane, CEO and Co-Founder of Yellow Door Energy, commented “The funding validates our company’s vision of powering emerging economies reliably, efficiently and sustainably. It enables us to scale our energy platform from the Middle East to Africa and Asia. We aim to build 300 megawatts of solar in the next 2 years, benefitting hundreds of businesses and the broader economy. We are excited that prestigious global investors believe in our company’s credibility, commitment and customer-centric offerings.”

Erik Becker, IFC Manager of Infrastructure and Natural Resources in the Middle East and Africa, commented: “Lack of economic power supply is hurting businesses large and small, stifling economic growth and contributing to unemployment across the region. Yellow Door Energy’s business model will help companies reduce energy costs and lower their carbon emissions – a strategic objective of IFC in the region.”

According to Mercom’s Q4 and Annual 2018 Funding and M&A report, in 2018, global VC funding for the solar sector fell 18 percent to $1.3 billion in 65 deals, compared to $1.6 billion raised in 99 deals in 2017. Of the $1.3 billion in VC funding raised in 65 deals in 2018, $1.2 billion went to 50 Solar

Downstream companies, which was 91 percent of the total VC funding raised in 2018.