A clean-cooking company that powered kitchens for hundreds of thousands of low-income families has abruptly collapsed, laying off its entire 700-person workforce and shutting off fuel supplies overnight . The fall of KOKO Networks, a once-celebrated Kenyan startup, reveals the fragility of climate-tech ventures built on complex global finance and vulnerable to a single regulatory decision.
Founded in 2013, KOKO Networks aimed to revolutionise cooking in urban Africa. It built a vast physical network of more than 3,000 automated fuel-dispensing KOKOpoints installed in corner shops across Kenya . Households would buy bioethanol-a cleaner-burning fuel-in reusable bottles at these outlets for as little as KES 100.00 around 78 cents per liter, roughly half the market price . The company sold its purpose-built cookers for KES 1.5 K USD 12.00, heavily subsidised from a market rate of about KES 15 K USD 116.00.
This model tackled multiple problems. It offered a cheaper, faster alternative to charcoal, reduced harmful indoor air pollution, and cut down on deforestation . At its peak, KOKO was onboarding an estimated 1,000 new households daily and served an estimated 1.5 million families . Investors, including heavyweights like the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund and Rand Merchant Bank , poured over USD 100 M in equity and debt into the venture, seeing it as a flagship for climate action .
