WeLight, the operator of more solar mini-grids across Africa than any other company, has secured a strategic investment from the International Finance Corp., giving the World Bank’s private-sector lending arm a stake in the business as it eyes expansion into Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Paris-based firm raised €27 million ($31 million) in a round that also included its founding shareholders, Axian Group Ltd., Sagemcom SAS and Norfund AS, the Norwegian development finance institution that co-founded WeLight in 2018 alongside the other partners.
The three established the company with a single mandate: deliver electricity to rural communities stranded beyond the reach of national power grids.
Six years on, WeLight operates nearly 190 mini-grids across Madagascar and Mali, serving more than 800,000 people. The fresh capital, the company said Tuesday, “will allow WeLight to accelerate its development, extend its geographic presence and prepare a new phase of growth at greater scale.”
The deal lands WeLight squarely at the centre of one of the most pressing infrastructure challenges in the world. Sub-Saharan Africa is home to roughly 570 million people without access to electricity, approximately 80 percent of the global total.
