WeLight, a pan-African distributed renewable energy company operating more solar mini-grids across Africa than any peer, plans a $650 million expansion aimed at expanding electricity access across underserved communities.

Founded in 2018, the company said it is preparing to enter Nigeria and Democratic Republic of the Congo, two of the regions with the largest electricity access gaps globally. Chief executive Romain de Villeneuve said the firm is also evaluating a fifth market as part of its next phase of growth.

“We are prepared for the next steps,” de Villeneuve said. “One million connections by 2030.”

The company already operates in Madagascar and Mali, where it has built a base for its rural electrification model centered on small, distributed solar grids.

The expansion comes as governments and development institutions intensify efforts to close Africa’s power gap. With a $31 million capital raise aimed at accelerating entry into Nigeria. The round included the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, which took a stake alongside existing shareholders.

The World Bank and African Development Bank are backing initiatives aimed at connecting hundreds of millions of people to electricity by 2030, with mini-grids seen as a key solution for rural areas beyond national grids.

Financing structure and investor support

WeLight plans to allocate about $450 million of the total investment toward Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The two countries together account for a significant share of the more than 560 million people in sub-Saharan Africa without electricity access.

An additional $200 million will be directed toward its existing markets and a planned new country entry.

De Villeneuve said the company expects roughly half of the funding to come from dedicated distributed energy financing vehicles, including World Bank-backed programs such as DARES in Nigeria and the Mwinda Fund in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The remainder will be sourced through equity contributions and concessional debt.

“Private money cannot finance everything,” he said, noting the importance of blended finance in scaling infrastructure in low-income regions.

Among its backers are Axian Group, Sagemcom and Norfund. The International Finance Corporation became an investor last month, marking the first new shareholder since the company’s founding.

Existing footprint and operational scale

WeLight currently operates about 180 mini-grid sites across Africa and has roughly 65,000 customer connections, most of them in Madagascar. The company is expanding that base toward 90,000 connections as new sites come online.

In 2022, the company secured about €20 million ($22.8 million) in funding from BNI Madagascar and several European development finance institutions, including the European Investment Bank and ElectriFi, to support 120 new sites in Madagascar.

The company has since expanded into Mali, where it began operations in 2022, and has positioned Nigeria as its next major market, with initial deployments expected from 2026. It is also preparing to launch in additional countries by 2027 as it works to scale its rural electrification model across sub-Saharan Africa.