Lessons from Acumen's Cookstove Investments
Recipe for Success
TRANSFORMING THE WAY HOUSEHOLDS COOK
Since 2015, Acumen has invested over $6 million in five companies that are transforming the way households cook through improved cookstoves and access to cleaner fuels.
These investments have become one of the most impactful and profitable sub-sectors Acumen has ever invested in. These five companies have:
- Sold a collective 3.8 million stoves and impacted 21 million lives.
- Saved customers hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel and health costs.
- Mitigated 18 million tons of carbon dioxide.
In this retrospective, we summarize the key lessons we have learned from our investments as well as our work with Loughborough University under the Modern Energy Cooking Services Programme (MECS), which is funded by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), then share our perspective on where the market is headed.
This material has been funded by UKaid from the UK government and is implemented by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; however, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.
This report was developed in partnership with ESMAP and Loughborough University, with funding from UKaid from the UK government
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