Qotto, an Essential Services operator, headquartered in France with operations in Burkina Faso, Benin and Ivory Coast has raised Euro 8 million in a Series A funding round led by Mauritius-based IBL group with participation of the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (FEI-OGEF) and Cordaid, alongside Qotto’s existing shareholders.
According to Jean-Baptiste Lenoir, President, and Co-founder of Qotto, “We welcome the new investors and are thrilled to scale our triple play model, leveraging our modular off-grid solar home systems, to offer internet connectivity and a host of financial services to our clients in the near future. Our innovative solutions will benefit greatly from IBL’s 100 years of industrial and commercial experience in Africa- the investment of such a partner confirms the scalability and relevance of our business model designed to bring essential services to rural Africans. “
Founded in 2016, Qotto designs and distributes stand-alone solar kits suited to the needs of people in rural and peri-urban areas in Africa. It currently operates in Benin and Burkina Faso and will expand, through this round of founding, to Ivory Coast and East Africa.
Qotto is scaling an improved and more efficient model of solar home systems including additional revenue streams and services, targeting the rural and peri urban consumer. An innovative business model developed and implemented by Qotto aims to scale their solar off grid presence with two other product lines: internet access hotspots and financial services leveraging its proprietary technology stack integrating IoT, FINTECH and cleantech solution to its clients.
Qotto has shown an impressive 50% Y-o-Y revenue growth with a strong active customer base of 11,000 at the end of year 2022. The financing arrangement is a mix of debt and equity, the proceeds of which Qotto will use to support and scale operations in West Africa, extend its geographic footprint, and reach 25,000 customers by the end of 2023.
In addition to the capital investment in this series A round and leveraging IBL group’s expertise in scaling business in Africa, Qotto and IBL group, have signed a partnership and agreed to offer Qotto’s off-grid solutions in the East African market, thus supporting Qotto’s ambitious expansion plan on the continent and IBL growing presence in the region.
“We are thrilled to be part, alongside its founders and teams, of what promises to be an exciting journey with Qotto, as it touches lives in Africa and benefits from their unique know-how. With its high impact solutions empowering a young and growing African population, Qotto does perfectly complement IBL Energy’s core portfolio of B2B solutions primarily addressed to the Commercial and Industrial segments” shares Pierre Egot, GM of IBL Energy.
