Designed to enable Koolboks’s expansion across African markets, this financing is the second transaction completed between Cascador, TLG Capital, and Morgan Stanley in two months. The partnership also brings TLG to $65 million of investments in Nigeria over the past two years, representing its strong commitment to the Nigerian market.
TLG Capital, a leading investment firm investing across Sub-Saharan Africa, has closed a high-impact credit facility for Koolboks Limited (“Koolboks”), which sells solar-powered freezers and appliances to traders, small businesses and corporate customers in Nigeria and beyond. With this facility, TLG Capital has now committed $65 million across 16 Nigerian SMEs in the past two years.
Koolboks was founded in Paris in 2018 by Ayoola Dominic and Deborah Gaël with a clear mission: to make reliable cooling accessible and affordable in markets where unreliable electricity remains a major barrier to economic activity. Across Africa, small businesses and informal traders lose income every day because they cannot reliably preserve food, beverages and other temperature-sensitive products.
Koolboks addresses this challenge with solar-powered freezers combining solar panels, patented ice-battery technology and connected PayGo capabilities, providing reliable cooling day and night, including during power outages. The solution also helps customers reduce their dependence on costly diesel generators and ice blocks.
Recognising that many SMEs and informal traders have limited access to traditional financing, Koolboks offers flexible lease-to-own financing, allowing customers to access productive equipment through affordable instalments while progressively building ownership.
With more than 15,000 units sold to date, Koolboks’s model has scaled quickly. The company employs around 400 people across Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, and it has shipped its products to 25+ markets. Its Koolbuy platform also extends the pay-as-you-go technology to household appliances from major brands, allowing its solar power technology to reach even more households.
This facility gives Koolboks the working capital to meet that growing demand as it scales, funding the inventory needed to keep pace across African markets, and to grow its retail and appliance partnerships. It combines TLG’s private credit with a guarantee provided by Cascador, delivered in partnership with Morgan Stanley, and is the second transaction the partners have completed together, following TLG’s financing of Drive45 in September.
Isha Doshi, Co-Founder and Partner at TLG Capital, said:
“Koolboks has built an incredibly innovative product that addresses critical challenges for individuals and SMEs. Its ability to scale in recent years is a testament to the ingenuity of its cold chain solution, and its ability to meet the demand across many African markets. Along the way they’ve assembled a fantastic set of partners who recognise that, and Cascador stands out among them: their partnerships run deep, and they keep showing up with the right structure to back businesses they believe in. Having completed our second deal with them in the span of a few weeks, we are proud to have such a proactive and impact-aligned partner.”
Ayoola Dominic, CEO of Koolboks, said:
“TLG recognised what our product means for our customers, and found the right kind of financing to back it at the pace that we needed. We have serious ambitions to address cold-chain infrastructure across Africa, and this facility gives us the capital and support to chase them. The Cascador team has stood behind us since well before this transaction, and having them and Morgan Stanley guarantee this funding gives us a strong base to keep building from.”
Trish Thomas, CEO of Cascador, said:
“We’ve partnered with Koolboks for several years now, and watching what Ayoola, Deborah, and the team have built in that time has been one of the most rewarding parts of our work. Their product clearly solves a real problem that exists across countless markets, and they are building at a scale we always believed was possible. TLG Capital is why we can move on these deals: Cascador finds local champions, but the question is always around positioning them with the right type of financing. With two deals closed in a matter of weeks, TLG and Cascador have identified a scalable product that will allow us to reach the businesses, countries, and sectors that matter most.”
TLG will continue to work closely with Koolboks following the investment through its value creation framework, partnering with management to strengthen governance, ESG monitoring, operational performance, and strategic growth initiatives as the business continues to scale.
About TLG Capital
TLG Capital is a leading investment manager exclusively focused on sub-Saharan Africa. TLG has made 70+ investments and 35+ exits across 25+ African countries since its inception. TLG’s flagship fund, Africa Growth Impact Fund II (AGIF II), targets small-and-medium enterprises and is anchored by the IFC, Norfund, Swedfund, and Bpifrance. TLG is trusted by more than 100 institutional and individual investors across North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. For more information, visit www.tlgcapital.com.
About Koolboks
Koolboks makes reliable cooling affordable for off-grid and underserved communities. Its solar-powered freezers use patented ice battery technology and connected pay-as-you-go payments that let customers spread the cost in small instalments. Founded in Paris in 2018 and assembling in Lagos, Koolboks operates in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda and has shipped its products to markets across Africa and beyond. Through its Koolbuy platform, the company also brings leading appliance brands to customers on flexible terms. Koolboks was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in EMEA in 2026. Learn more at www.koolboks.com.
About Cascador
Cascador is a Nigeria-focused platform for growth-stage founders building businesses that make an impact. Through Cascador ScaleUp, its flagship program, Cascador works with an elite cohort of entrepreneurs to strengthen their leadership and sharpen their strategy, preparing them to scale successfully. ScaleUp alumni gain exclusive access to the Catalytic Fund, which deploys up to $5M USD in capital annually through a blend of debt and equity investments. Since 2019, Cascador has supported 80 companies that have collectively raised over $150 million. Today, alumni are driving innovation, creating jobs, raising investment capital, winning awards, and changing the face of the African economy. Learn more at www.cascador.org.