ATEC closes US$3.75M Series to expand clean cooking in Global South

ATEC, a global leader in IoT-enabled electric stoves, has raised a US$3.75 million Series A for expansion across Asia and Africa. 

The Series-A round was co-led by Schneider Electric Energy Access Asia (SEEAA) and Spark+ Africa Fund, along with other institutional investors Save the Children Australia Impact Investment Fund, DRW, Kibo Investments and iDE.

Accelerating social impact & reducing carbon emissions

ATEC is a leader in technology for decarbonising cooking that has been recognised by UC Berkeley as one of five globally recommended cookstove carbon projects. Its 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.

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 2.4 million petrol cars for one year.

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

ATEC Co-Founder and CEO Ben Jeffreys said, “ATEC will expand its partnerships with last-mile distributors and carbon buyers across Asia and Africa.

“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.”

Significant health outcomes

Along with the positive climate impact, removing smoke from cooking with wood will have significant health outcomes on women and children.

Save the Children Australia Impact Investment Fund head Julianne Wilkin said, “There is a strong correlation between cooking with traditional, inefficient methods such as open fires or poorly ventilated stoves and poor health. 

“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.”