Investment company International Finance Corporation (IFC) provides $100 million to data center business Raxio for growth across Africa.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced a $100 million debt financing deal with Raxio Group, a Dutch-based company building data centres across sub-Saharan Africa. This investment will support Raxio's growth plans, enabling the establishment of new data centres in several African countries, including Uganda, Nigeria, and Kenya, in the coming years.
The IFC's financing for Raxio includes concessional funding from the GROW Facility, a facility launched in 2024 with a C$100m investment from the Canadian government. The GROW Facility aims to advance gender equity and inclusive economic growth by combining blended finance and advisory services with IFC financing.
Raxio's current operational data centres are located in Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, and Uganda. The Côte d'Ivoire facility, inaugurated in September 2024, is capable of delivering 3 megawatts of power to customer equipment. In addition, Raxio is exploring potential opportunities for solar PV in Mozambique and Côte d'Ivoire.
To minimize its environmental footprint, Raxio integrates renewable energy into its projects and uses energy-efficient equipment to reduce electricity and water consumption for cooling in several of its facilities. Currently, 70% of the electricity consumed by Raxio's data centres is derived from hydropower.
In April 2023, Raxio secured a sustainability-linked debt facility of up to $170m, including $110m from France's Proparco and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF). Later in 2023, Raxio received additional $46m in equity funding from two of Raxio's shareholders, US-based investment firm Roha and sustainable infrastructure asset manager Meridiam. These funds will allow Raxio to expand its network and establish data centres in at least five additional African countries by 2027.
Besides Raxio, other companies are also making strides in African tech and infrastructure. For instance, Symbiotics has committed $5m to a Ghanaian agritech company, but the name of the company and further details were not mentioned. Similarly, the Bridges fund has invested in the UK's Alina Homecare, but no specific details about the investment were provided.
Raxio builds carrier-neutral, co-location data centres, meaning they are not tied to one service provider, and third-party companies can hire capacity. In the near future, Raxio plans to facilitate supply from renewable power such as solar PV, combined with battery storage. By mid-2025, a data centre in Angola is due to launch, and another in Tanzania is under construction.
In other news, the UK's Alina Homecare received an investment from the Bridges fund, but no specific details about the investment were provided. Additionally, August saw the appointment of a head of impact propositions at Unity Trust, but no name was provided.
As these developments unfold, it's clear that the tech and infrastructure landscape in Africa is evolving, with companies like Raxio leading the way in sustainable, renewable energy-powered data centre expansion.
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