Amid funding dip and consolidation, $300M flows to off-grid solar as market gathers momentum

Amsterdam, 15 April 2025

GOGLA, the global association for the off-grid solar industry, supported by GET.invest, has released its 2024 Investment Database, showing that the total investment into off-grid solar companies in the past year was almost $300 million, a 30% contraction versus 2023 that mirrors the broader African venture capital landscape.

The decline is affecting early-stage companies and productive-use technologies the most, threatening innovation, scale, and impact at a time when the sector is poised for a breakthrough: demand for energy access solutions remains high, and donors, development finance institutions, philanthropies, and commercial investors are showing renewed commitment to the sector.

Key highlights

• Scale-up companies raised $229 million in 2024 — 77% of total sector investment. Mature players are demonstrating commercial viability, with firms like Sun King and d.light leveraging securitizations and off-balance-sheet structures to raise capital while managing risk. With early exits, internal debt repayments, and a major M&A move in Ignite’s acquisition of ENGIE Energy Access, scale-ups are showing investors that the sector can deliver both impact and returns.

• Start-up investment declined by 70% in 2024, reflecting wider venture capital trends across Africa. Following a prolonged equity crunch, the sector has already undergone a wave of consolidation — one that, while difficult, has streamlined the landscape and surfaced a stronger group of capital-efficient, impact-driven companies.

• Seed-stage companies raised $21 million in 2024 — matching last year’s total and signaling continued investor confidence in early-stage innovation. A record 67 companies secured funding, with half of all investment directed toward PURE solutions and 62% going to nationally owned firms. Despite broader funding pressures, seed-stage activity remains vibrant, with blended capital stacks — combining grants, equity, and technical assistance — creating new pathways from innovation to impact.

• Investment in Productive Use Renewable Energy (PURE) fell by 62% in 2024, driven by the absence of the larger equity deals that shaped 2023. This year was marked by smaller, grant-led activity — with 49 companies raising capital and 39 of them receiving grants. While still early-stage, PURE continues to show strong potential in agriculture, livelihoods, and rural resilience — and is primed for growth with the right catalytic support.

• Over $900 million in Results-Based Financing (RBF) has been committed to the off-grid solar sector historically — with more than half pledged in just the past two years. 2024 marked a shift from commitments to implementation, with major programs like DARES Nigeria ($300M for off-grid solar) and Uganda’s Energy Access Scale-Up Project beginning to drive real market results. RBFs have emerged as one of the most powerful tools to close the $9 billion affordability gap for universal access — expanding access, crowding in capital, and unlocking scale.

• New equity funds from IFC, Lightrock, Kawisafi, Persistent, and others signal investor confidence building, supported by stronger deal pipelines, improved risk metrics, and clearer paths to breakeven. 

Off-grid solar companies are consolidating, maturing and refining their approach to scale while new equity funds, often with concessional layers, are launching. The M300 initiative is set to unlock new capital, and specially subsidies, to provide energy access to 300 million people, increasing affordability and reducing investor risk. This convergence creates a window of opportunity to scale high-impact off-grid solar solutions across Africa and beyond. 

Blended finance remains a key to unlock impact at scale, with small amounts of grant funding able to catalyze up to 10x in private investment, combining returns for investors with driving climate resilience, economic inclusion and financial access.

If you want to dig into the data, you can access the full updated Investment Database here. 

About GOGLA

GOGLA is the global association for the off-grid solar energy industry, representing over 200 members working to transform lives through clean, affordable, and high-quality solar products and services. 

More than 560 million climate-vulnerable people already benefit from off-grid solar to power their homes, farms, enterprises and public infrastructure. With the right support, our industry is poised to scale rapidly, aiming to improve the lives of 1 billion people by 2030. 

GOGLA drives this progress by serving as a central hub for the sector, offering vital market data, advocating for supportive policies and increased investment, and providing value-added services to our members. 

To find out more, visit www.gogla.org.

About GET.invest

GET.invest is a European programme that mobilises investments in renewable energy. It works with project and business developers, financiers and regulators to build sustainable energy markets in partner countries. Services include finance access advisory, market information, a funding database, and matchmaking events. Since 2022, GET.invest powers the Team Europe One Stop Shop for green energy investments, an access point for information about and facilitated access to European support and financing instruments for energy projects and companies in Africa. The programme is supported by the European Union, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Austria.

To find out more, visit www.get-invest.eu.