Koko Networks assets up for sale as administrators look for buyers

Administrators are looking for buyers for the assets of Kenyan clean cooking startup Koko Networks. The move comes months after the company shut down its operations. A notice issued through the insolvency process invites interested parties to submit expressions of interest by July 17. PwC, which is overseeing Koko Networks Limited, will review the submissions and draw up a shortlist of potential buyers. The sale includes the company’s intellectual property, including patents, software and hardware designs developed over more than 10 years. It also covers Koko’s stove and fuel canister manufacturing facility in Sanand, India. Also included is the fuel distribution network that supplied more than 3,000 automated fuel stations across Kenya. Prospective buyers must show they have the financial capacity to complete a transaction worth more than $15 million. Only then will they receive the sale documents.

Carbon credit setback led to shutdown

Koko closed its business in January and laid off more than 700 employees. The shutdown came after the Kenyan government declined to issue a Letter of Authorisation. The approval was required before the company could sell carbon credits on international markets. Carbon credit sales helped reduce the cost of ethanol fuel for more than one million households using Koko’s cooking network. Without that income, the company could no longer continue operating.

PwC is handling the administration of Koko Networks Limited. At the same time, the company’s affiliated businesses in India, Saarus Innovations Pvt Ltd and Koko Networks Pvt Ltd, are going through separate voluntary liquidation. Gregg Murray founded Koko Networks in 2013. The company raised funding from Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Mirova, Verod Kepple and Rand Merchant Bank. The World Bank’s Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) also provided a $179.6 million guarantee.