The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced a $6million investment in mobile tech firm, Africa’s Talking. The investment is to assist the Kenya-based company to expand beyond the seven markets it currently serves.
“What we are looking for is to continue expansion into Africa and to expand our product offering,” Africa’s Talking chief operating officer, Bilha Ndirangu, told the Business Daily.
Though Ms Ndirangu did not reveal the stake that IFC would acquire in Africa’s Talking, she said that this was still under negotiation.
Apart from the CEO Samuel Gikandi, other shareholders in the company include Eston Kimani, Bilha Ndirangu, and the California-based seed investor Better Ventures.
Founded in 2010, Africa’s Talking has its head quarters in Nairobi, Kenya with operations in Ethiopia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda. . It says its goal is to unlock the potential of mobile communication networks across Africa by simplifying the process and technologies required to exploit them.
The Africa’s Talking SMS/ USSD / Voice and Airtime APIs has more than 1000 active developers spanning corporates, tech start-ups, SMEs and even budding techies. Our deep involvement with developers ensures that we provide excellent service for any technical solution over mobile.
IFC writes that the company’s services can “profitably serve both the “one-man” shop and larger customers simultaneously. The company believes that the company’s expansion within the continent will provide an opportunity for other start-ups to grow and “target new markets”.
Earlier this year, the company struck a deal with 9mobile, a telecom operator with a 14 per cent market share in Nigeria, to provide software developers access to its platform in one of Africa’s largest telecom market.
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