Kenya-based Africa’s Talking Secures $8.6M Funding

Kenya based startup, Africa’s Talking has raised a new $8.6 million funding led by IFC Venture Capital, with participation from Orange Digital Ventures and Social Capital.

According to reports, the funds from will be used to hire and build capacity at the company’s Nairobi headquarters; expand its presence in other geographies around Africa; and invest in research and development in IoT, analytics, payments, and cloud offerings, according to chief executive Samuel Gikandi.

The company will open a tech studio for “engineers and developers to collocate with Africa’s Talking for 12-18 months to build new products and companies,” Gikandi said.

Africa’s Talking operates in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Tanzania and maintains a private cloud space in London through Rackspace. The company works with developers to create solution focused APIs across SMS, voice, payment, and airtime services.

Gikandi added: “We’re helping software developers in Africa connect to local infrastructure. We find companies that have the local infrastructure, whether its mobile operators, banks, or data-centres, then we partner with them and build a platform that simplifies access to that local infrastructure and open it up to software developers.”

Africa’s Talking has a network of 20,000 software developers and 1000 clients including fintech lending startup Tala; solar power financier and retailer M-Kopa; and financial services giant Ecobank, according to Gikandi. The Africa Regional Head of IFC Venture Capital, Wale Ayeni joins the board of Africa’s Talking.

Commenting, Ayeni said: “The calibre of the tech team was a reason to invest. They’ve been able to build a cloud-based digital platform and produce a product that people are willing to pay for. It’s rare to see that kind of high calibre tech talent create something that can scale that rapidly and we’re looking forward to what they’ll build in the future.”