Izili Group, a pay-as-you-go off-grid energy and digital services company, announced on January 22, 2026 that it had acquired Qotto, which sells solar home systems on instalment plans in Benin and Burkina Faso. The deal takes Izili's operations to six African countries.
The companies did not disclose the price. Alongside the acquisition, Izili signed a financing agreement with the Off-Grid Energy Access Fund (OGEF) for $5 million in convertible bonds, which it said would support its growth plans and strengthen its balance sheet.
Qotto's teams are joining Izili Group. Neither company said whether the Qotto brand would be kept or how its products would be combined with Izili's in Benin and Burkina Faso.
What Qotto built
Qotto designs and distributes standalone solar kits and lanterns for households and small businesses in sub-Saharan Africa that have no connection to a conventional power grid. Customers pay for the equipment in small instalments over time, the pay-as-you-go model that has become common in off-grid solar.
When it raised money in 2023, Qotto said it planned to expand into Côte d'Ivoire and to add services beyond electricity, including micro-insurance, micro-credit and micro-savings products designed with partners such as the West African insurer SUNU, and internet hotspots in shops, restaurants and bars. Jean Baptiste Lenoir, a co-founder of Qotto, said the combination with Izili and BioLite was the first concrete step in a strategy to expand rural electrification across sub-Saharan Africa.
“Qotto’s acquisition represents a significant moment in Izili’s evolution—not just for our West African expansion, but primarily for the people this brings together.”
Why Izili is buying
Izili was known as Baobab+ until September 2025, when it adopted its new name after BioLite bought a majority stake in 2025. The group describes itself as a last-mile distributor of solar and digital products. Before the Qotto deal it operated in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Madagascar and Nigeria, according to Ecofin Agency; Benin and Burkina Faso bring the total to six.
Kolawole Osinowo, Izili's chief executive, called the acquisition an important moment for the group, both for its expansion in West Africa and for the people it brings together. He said the two companies shared the view that access to clean energy changes lives, and that the deal would let Izili reach more communities.
Izili said that with Qotto and the new financing it aims to distribute more than 170,000 solar solutions and more than 120,000 digital products by 2028.
Izili said that bringing together Qotto's regional knowledge, its established distribution channels and the group's consumer financing would open a new phase as it expands across the continent. We Are Tech Africa described the shared aim as lasting access to energy for households and entrepreneurs in rural Africa.
The funding behind Qotto
In April 2023 Qotto raised $8 million in a Series A round that combined equity and debt. The round was led by IBL Group, a Mauritius-based conglomerate with interests in energy, financial services, logistics and distribution. The Off-Grid Energy Access Fund, the Dutch development organisation Cordaid and Qotto's existing investors also took part, according to AFSIA.
OGEF, an impact investment vehicle focused on off-grid electricity in Africa, was therefore already a Qotto shareholder before it agreed to provide the $5 million in convertible bonds to the enlarged Izili group. The sources did not say what IBL Group or the other Qotto investors received in the sale.
Tech In Africa reported that the OGEF bonds were meant to give Izili's capital structure more room to support long-term growth of its off-grid operations.
A consolidating off-grid market
Off-grid solar remains one of the main tools for bringing electricity to rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa, where many households live far from the grid. Izili said that combining local knowledge, existing distribution networks and consumer financing would let the group reach more households and small businesses.
Qotto gives the group a presence in Benin and Burkina Faso, two West African markets where it did not previously operate, alongside its existing businesses in Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria and Madagascar.
