Trine | Impact Investing

Last update: Oct-20

Whenever I allocate time and resources to a project, business or investment, I do my best to secure the best value for money. But, in parallel, I make sure to find initiatives that are also in line with my values (impact), character (mindset) and interests (lifestyle). 

The Swedish platform that I am going to present to you meets all these criteria. So have a look to see if it meet your interests. 

Trine helps people passively invest in solar energy in growing markets, providing a triple return on investment: earn a profit while making a social and environmental impact. 

IMPACT SUMMARY

This Map provides a snapshot of my current responsible investments with TRINE. I chose the target countries based on availability, investment rating, expected impact and personal interest in the country.

MY CURRENT INVESTMENT BREAKDOWN

IMPACT OF MY CURRENT INVESTMENT

COMPANY

• Founded: 2014
• Company: for-profit, social and environmental impact company
• Total Invested (loans funded): EUR 34,280 million

INVESTORS

• Number of investors: 10,651 
• Access/eligibility: investors can invest using credit cards or a European bank account, including services like Revolut or Transferwise. Investors must live in the EEA region (European Economic Area). Investors from Switzerland are also able to invest. 
  
  

   MARKET

• Trine currently invests in 16 countries.
• Borrowers: Trine lends to more than 16 Solar partners.

PRODUCTS

• Loans. The possibility to lease the solar product is essential for the end customers, but for the solar companies, it means that a lot of their assets are locked in for a long period of time. By lending these companies capital, they can continue to grow and supply more families with solar home systems. As the families pay off the systems, the companies pay back the loan with interest. Trine makes it easy for people like you to invest in loans to these solar companies, providing them with the injection of capital they need to create a greener and more equal future. As an investor, you get the possibility to earn up to 11% interest on your investment and be safe in the knowledge that your investments are doing good.
• The interest rate ranges from 5% to 8%.
• Loan tenor ranges (duration of the loans) from 24 months until 36 months. 

SERVICES

• Minimum investment: 25 Euros.
• Investment modality: manual or automatic (on monthly basis; only if new projects are available).
• FEEs: investing is free of charge for the lender: there is no service fee or any other fee charged to investors. As a for-profit, social and environmental impact company, Trine makes money in two different ways:
  1. When a loan becomes fully funded through Trine, the solar company (the borrower) will pay Trine a one-time fee for arranging the loan. This fee is mostly determinate by the size of the loan, used to cover our cost of due diligence and funding the loan.
  2. Trine also takes a management fee, which is a percentage of the total loan. The solar company pays this throughout the payback period to cover operational costs.
• Secondary Market: n/a.

RETURNS

TRINE states annual average returns of 7.8%. Historically projects tend to offer annual interest rates between 6 and 8%.

Pros: 

– Environmental impact thanks to investments in solar energy

– Trine calculates the future impact in terms of CO2 avoided

– Social impact based on  how many people will get electricity; loans supporting people out of poverty,  economic growth, sustainable cities, health and quality education

– Good geographic diversification (14 countries in Asia, Africa and South America)

– Investments and transactions are in Euro (no Bitcoins, no local currencies)

– medium-long term investments (payback period around 3-5 years)

– average returns (annual interest rates): 6-8%

Cons:

– medium-term investment (long payback period) in developing countries

– limited pipeline of projects available causes limited projects diversification

Notes: 

Trine is a European based platform; transactions are in EUR. It provides a growing geographic diversification. It provides interesting returns for an impact investment venture. Trine can be either part of an Impact Finance portfolio (around 1% of your total investment portfolio), or a “smart” eco-friendly donation.

It is an interesting passive investing service. If you think it meets your interests and investor’s profile, here is my Referral link for 10 EUR bonus with your first investment.