Senegalese-based solar power company – Oolu – has successfully raised $8.5 million in series B investment round; making it one of the francophone companies with the largest funding in Africa.
The company took to Twitter to announce the completion of the round of funding which was led by RP Global – a developer and independent producer of renewable energy.
The round of funding, according to the tweet Oolu sent out, has additional participating investors including All On – a Shell-seeded impact investor, as well as investors like Persistent Energy Capital, Gaia Impact Fund, and DPI Energy Ventures.
Oolu, which is a for-profit company with presence in five West African countries – Nigeria, Senegal, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso – was founded in 2015 by Nilmi Senaratna and Daniel Rosa.
Following the company’s mission, which is to “provide affordable energy access to rural and peri-urban customers in West Africa,” the company said that with the $8.5 million investment, it will “expand its core product offering to meet the needs of its current and future customers, and further develop its operations in West Africa.”
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In a public release by the CEO, and published on the company’s official blog, Daniel Rosa, said:
“The strength of our business and industry during a challenging global pandemic has demonstrated the value that customers see in our products and service. RP Global’s financial expertise and experience in managing renewable energy businesses will enable us to accelerate our growth.“
Dan Rosa further added that the company is excited to continue its successful collaboration with current investors.
In his comment, RP Global Africa’s director, Leo Schiefermueller, said:
“We are looking forward to working with the most promising solar home systems provider in West Africa. Having found a partner with such an efficient structure and excellent management, makes us optimistic that this will be our greatest venture in Africa to date.”
Oolu currently has a 250-man workforce, of which, half of the workforce are women. The solar energy distribution company claims to have sold over 60,000 solar home systems to customers in the West African region.
