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Since 2014, Cercano Management has backed 1 African startup across 3 disclosed funding rounds totaling $78M, most heavily in Energy & Utilities.
Cercano Management is a privately held investment management and advisory firm that works with ultra high net worth individuals, families, family foundations, and related charitable organizations. It is headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, and operates as an independent SEC registered investment adviser. In Africa, Cercano Management has been an active investor in the clean energy sector, with a specific focus on Tanzania. Based on available investment records, the firm participated in three funding rounds for ZOLAi, an energy and utilities company in Tanzania that provides AI tools to run and optimize distributed clean energy. These rounds included Series A, Series B, and Series D stages between 2014 and 2018, totaling 78.0 million dollars of committed capital. Across these Tanzanian investments, Cercano Management has co invested alongside a set of global strategic and impact oriented partners such as Omidyar Network, EDF, Helios Investment Partners, GE Ventures, DBL Partners, TotalEnergies Carbon Neutrality Ventures, Tesla, Zouk Capital, Electranova Capital, and SolarCity. This pattern highlights the firm’s role in large scale, later stage financings that support technology driven, distributed clean energy solutions in emerging markets.
Data updated · Aug 25, 2026
Cercano Management has backed 1 African startup across 3 disclosed funding rounds tracked on Liners, totaling $78M since 2014.
Mostly Series D: 1 of its 3 tracked rounds are at that stage, followed by Series B (1).
Companies Cercano Management has backed operate in Côte d'Ivoire (4), Ghana (4), Nigeria (4), and 2 more markets. Each figure counts the rounds behind companies serving that market, so a company operating in several markets counts in each of them.
Its tracked rounds lean toward Energy & Utilities (4).
Cercano Management most often shares rounds with Helios Investment Partners (2 shared deals), DBL Partners (2 shared deals), Omidyar Network (2 shared deals).
ZOLAi is the only African company confirmed in available data as having received investment from Cercano Management. The firm participated in ZOLAi’s Series A, Series B, and Series D funding rounds, all focused on distributed clean energy in Tanzania.
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