1st July, 2024 — ATEC closed its US$3,750,000 Series-A round co-led by Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia (SEEAA) & Spark+ Africa Fund to support global expansion across Asia & African markets of its market-leading IoT electric stoves. Other institutional investors in the round include DRW, Save the Children Australia Impact Investment Fund, Kibo Investments and iDE.

ATEC’s proprietary stove produces data-verifiable and auditable carbon credits, which resolves the majority of the current over-crediting issues currently holding back the voluntary and compliance cookstove carbon markets. 

"ATEC will expand its partnerships with last-mile distributors and carbon buyers across Asia & Africa,” says ATEC Co-Founder & CEO Ben Jeffreys, “With ATEC’s ultimate goal of being the technology that empowers 800 million women across the Global South to not only play an active role in reducing climate change, but turn it into an income.”

Gilles Vermot Desroches, Senior Vice President Corporate Citizenship Schneider Electric and President of SEEAA, stated, "We are thrilled to support ATEC in their growth, accelerating social impact for rural and low-income households and reducing carbon emissions. We believe that their ability to combine IoT, ensure data accuracy, and utilise carbon finance will be instrumental in democratising access to clean cooking.”

Since 2019, ATEC has been leading the sector in technology for decarbonising cooking and was recognised by UC Berkeley as 1 of 5 globally recommended cookstove carbon projects. As carbon markets move further towards compliance and accountability, technology that can provide 100% auditable data to verify their claims will be key to unlocking markets in Africa & Asia.

“Given greater rates of electrification and improving grid/mini-grid reliability in many African countries, electricity is a clean, modern cooking option for a growing number of consumers,” says Spark+ Investment Directors Peter George & Xavier Pierluca, “With the integration of IoT technology, the upfront and ongoing barriers to electric cooking will significantly decline and we are confident ATEC is well-positioned to be one of the leading companies in this emerging space.” 

With this Series A, ATEC will also continue its core investment in R&D - in particular the latest developments in IoT & Web3.0 and bringing these benefits to households in the Global South.

“As part of our firm’s mission to use markets to pursue positive change, we are thrilled to support ATEC’s work to bring induction cooking to communities that currently lack access to safe, reliable sources of cooking energy,” said Iain Henderson, Co-Head of DRW’s VCM desk. “By using the carbon markets to fund the higher upfront costs and support ongoing electricity needs, ATEC is producing a sustainable solution that could help change the lives of over two billion people globally.”

Within the next decade, ATEC plans to generate 10 Gigawatt Hours of decarbonised cooking per day in households across the Global South. This will reduce carbon emissions of up to 10 million tons per year - the equivalent of driving 2.4million petrol cars for one year.  In addition to the positive climate impact, the removal of smoke from cooking with wood will have significant health outcomes on women and children.

“There is a strong correlation between cooking with traditional, inefficient methods such as open fires or poorly ventilated stoves and poor health,” says Save the Children Australia Impact Investment Fund head Julianne Wilkin, “As an investor dedicated to creating impact for children, we recognise the critical work that innovative companies like ATEC are doing to improve conditions for children and families who need it most.”

About ATEC: 

ATEC is a global leader in IoT-enabled electric stoves which connects households to global carbon markets. Founded in Cambodia in 2016, ATEC developed the world’s first PAYG-enabled cookstove product in 2018, followed by the first IoT-enabled smart stove in 2020. ATEC currently distributes its products in 10 countries across Asia and Africa, with the goal of bringing the benefits of electric cooking and carbon markets to all women in the Global South. www.atecglobal.io 

For queries:

ATEC: Ben Jeffreys, bjeffreys@atecglobal.io.  Mellisa Mazingi, mmazingi@atecglobal.io 

Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia: Leslie Zambelli, leslie.zambelli@se.com

Spark+ Africa Fund: Peter George, peter.george@enabling.ch

DRW: Iain Henderson, ihenderson@drwsg.com 

Save the Children Australia Impact Investment Fund: Jessica Brennan, media.team@savethechildren.org.au