South Africa’s SweepSouth Acquires Egyptian Startup, Filkhedma

SweepSouth, Africa’s largest online home services platform backed by Naspers, has acquired Egyptian startup, Filkhedma.

Launched in 2014, SweepSouth is an online platform providing on-demand home cleaning services, operating across various South African cities.

Filkhedma is Egypt’s home services marketplace operating across three cities and serving tens of thousands of customers with cleaning, maintenance, and beauty services while empowering over 2 000 service providers through technology with consistent incomes and professional development. It was founded by Omar Ramadan also in 2014.

According to Naspers, the 100% acquisition almost doubles SweepSouth’s addressable market on the continent and paves the way for the launch of new services in South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria.

It notes that SweepSouth, will become one of a few start-ups operating in Africa’s four key tech markets with this acquisition placing the company in a strategically strong position to enter neighbouring geographies.

Naspers Foundry head, Fabian Whate says: “This acquisition has the potential to yield significant synergies.

“Filkhedma is an excellent business and is aligned to SweepSouth’s ambitions to expand its service offering and gain access to high growth markets across the region. Egypt’s growing middle class and rising financial inclusion and internet penetration, offer huge opportunities for the combined home services platform of the two companies. Helping high-potential early-stage tech companies scale is central to what Naspers Foundry does and we’re particularly excited about this milestone in SweepSouth’s journey.”

“We are thrilled to have Filkhedma as part of the SweepSouth family,” says Aisha Pandor, CEO and co-founder of SweepSouth.

“It’s not only their services that align with ours, but also their values and culture. Just like us, Filkhedma is passionate about providing quality and trusted home services, while creating work opportunities for those who need it most. This acquisition will see us extend our reach into Egypt, a huge market with millions of households, and combine with the Filkhedma team as a global platform looking to expand our services not only on the continent, but further abroad as well.”

“We are happy with this incredible milestone and excited about joining forces with the SweepSouth team to fulfil our vision of empowering providers and delivering quality services in Africa and beyond,” Ramadan said.

“We already have well over 2 000 service providers on our platform and we’re confident that with the backing of SweepSouth, we will be able to sign up many more and expand into neighbouring countries, too.”