Husk Power's mini-grid bet: Nigeria's electricity law opens a $400M scale-up

Builds and operates solar mini-grids — panels, batteries and diesel backup — for communities and small businesses off or on the edge of the grid in India and Nigeria, plus appliance sales and commercial rooftop solar.

Villages with no reliable grid would pay for mini-grid power at scale, and Nigeria's new electricity law would crowd in private capital to grow it a hundredfold.

About $125M raised across four rounds before 2025, including a $103M Series D in October 2023 ($43M equity from STOA, DFC and Proparco plus $60M debt from IFC and EIB); now seeking $400M more ($150M equity, $250M debt).

Founded in 2008 in Bihar, one of India's least-electrified states, by Manoj Sinha and co-founders who pioneered the community mini-grid category. Fifteen years later it had grown from about 12 mini-grids to 200 across India and Nigeria, turning EBITDA positive in late 2022 with 60% annual growth and 90%-plus customer retention.

Nigeria's Electricity Act 2023 ended the federal monopoly on generating, transmitting and distributing power, letting states open their own markets — and Husk moved days later. In October 2023 it raised its $103M Series D on a plan to grow from 12 Nigerian mini-grids to 500 within five years, and launched 'Africa Sunshot', a 2,500-mini-grid program across the continent.

Still scaling, with an industry-record $400M capital raise underway and an IPO under consideration — no exit or ending yet.

Nigeria's Electricity Act 2023 ended the federal power monopoly, letting states license their own markets — the first real legal room for private mini-grids to scale.

Nigeria supplies only ~4,000 MW to 237 million people, so distributed solar is often the fastest and cheapest route to power, as the World Bank has argued for mini-grids generally.

Husk had 15 years of unit economics — EBITDA-positive in 2022, 60% growth, 90% retention — before the policy door opened, so it could absorb institutional capital responsibly.

Mission 300, the World Bank's 300-million-person electrification push, gives investors a policy-backed demand curve rather than a bet on charity.

The law is the market. One clause ending a monopoly re-rated an entire asset class — but the winners were operators who already had a decade of unit economics before the door opened.

As of The Hindu BusinessLine's November 24, 2025 report, Husk operates about 400 mini-grids — roughly 70 in Nigeria and the rest in India — and is raising $400 million ($150M equity, $250M debt), an industry record, to fund a tenfold revenue increase by 2030. Targets: at least 2 GW installed, over $150M annual revenue growing about 95% a year, 30 million people supplied, and expansion into the DRC and Madagascar, with an IPO under consideration for when the numbers justify it.