Nigerian ISP Startup Tizeti Secures USD 3 Mn Series A Led By 4DX Ventures
Tizeti, a Nigerian ISP startup, and its consumer-facing brand, Wifi.com.ng have just closed a Series A round of USD 3 Mn, led by 4DX Ventures with participation from existing investors Y Combinator Continuity, Lynett Capital, Social Capital, Western Technology Investment, Friále, and Golden Palm Investments. This follows on from the company’s Seed investment of USD 2.1 Mn in 2017.
It is believed that Tizeti will use this investment to expand operations outside of Nigeria and will launch a new consumer-facing brand Wifi.Africa later this year, starting with the neighboring West African country, Ghana. The company is reported to have plans also make additional investments in operations, product development, and overall customer experience, with a view toward growing profitability exponentially.
The company which operates widely as a “Comcast for Africa”, builds and operates solar-powered towers in Nigeria, while also providing residences, businesses, events and conferences with unlimited high-speed broadband internet access, reportedly covering more than 70% of Lagos. Since graduating from Y Combinator’s November 2017, the startup announced a partnership with Facebook to offer Express Wi-Fi in the country, in a move roll out hundreds of internet hotspots across Nigeria’s capital.
Kendall Ananyi, CEO and Co-founder of Tizeti, on the occasion of this development says, “Tizeti was built to tackle poor internet connectivity not only in Nigeria but on the continent as a whole, by developing a cost-effective solution from inception to delivery, for reliable and uncapped internet access for potentially millions of Africans. We have grown rapidly in the Nigerian market in the last 12 months and expect to continue on this trajectory, as millions more Africans come online. This Series A investment allows us to continue providing a peerless service in Nigeria, building out our customer base there, as well as scale across Africa, starting with Ghana”.
Through the ISP startup’s innovative use of solar-powered base stations, Tizeti is able to significantly reduce operating costs which allow the company to be hyper-competitive when it comes to subscription packages; a Wifi.com.ng unlimited plan in Nigeria currently costs USD 30 per month [NGN 9, 500]. This, alongside the company’s extensive coverage reach, has given Tizeti a competitive edge in the ISP sector, establishing the young company as one of the leaders in ICT and tech infrastructure.
As part of this financing round, Walter Baddoo Co-founder & Managing Partner of 4DX Ventures joins Tizeti’s Board of Directors. Baddoo in line with this, remarks that “Reducing the cost of data in Africa is a crucial step in accelerating the pace of internet adoption across the continent. Tizeti, driven by a stellar company culture, has built a world-class network that delivers data to users at a fraction of the current cost. Tizeti makes it easier and cheaper to connect Africa to the global digital economy and we are excited to partner with Kendall and his team on this mission.”
TIZETI has been in the deployment of high-speed internet access to estates, offices, multi-tenant building using next-generation Wi-Fi technology. They deploy unlimited internet to residential and business customers which allow customers get the full benefit of the internet with no data or time caps.
