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Recipe for Success: Lessons from Acumen’s Cookstoves Investments

Woman serve her family dinner at the table from a BURN electric pressure cooker

Explore the lessons we've learned after investing $6 million in five companies transforming how households cook thanks to improved cookstoves and access to cleaner fuels.

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  • 2023

Transforming the way households cook

Since 2015, Acumen has invested over $6 million in five companies that are transforming the way households cook through improved cookstoves and access to cleaner fuels.

These investments have become one of the most impactful and profitable sub-sectors Acumen has ever invested in. These five companies have:

  • Sold a collective 3.8 million stoves and impacted 21 million lives.
  • Saved customers hundreds of millions of dollars in fuel and healthcare costs.
  • Mitigated 18 million tons of carbon dioxide.

In this retrospective, we summarize the key lessons we have learned from our investments as well as our work with Loughborough University under the Modern Energy Cooking Services Programme (MECS), which is funded by the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), then share our perspective on where the market is headed.

This material has been funded by UKaid from the UK government and is implemented by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office; however, the views expressed do not necessarily reflect the UK government’s official policies.

This report was made possible by our Parnters.

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