Enterprise Software Startup Africa’s Talking Locks In USD 8.6 Mn Funding from World Bank’s VC Arm
Kenyan business software company Africa’s Talking has locked in USD 8.5 million in a financing round led by World Bank’s private equity and venture capital arm International Finance Corporation or IFC Venture Capital, with participation from Orange Digital Ventures.
Africa’s Talking is a communication-as-a-platform API company. The company works with over 20,0000 developers to create solution focused APIs across SMS, voice, payment, and airtime services.
Capital from the round 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. It currently operates in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Malawi, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Tanzania and maintains a private cloud space in London through Rackspace.
“Africa’s Talking enables developers in Africa transform their community through technology and leveraging on IFC’s breadth of experience in Africa, we will work together to catalyze our expansion and build innovative products. Together, we believe that we can build the foundation and environment that developers need to build successful African businesses,” elaborated Samuel Gikandi, CEO and Co-Founder of Africa’s Talking.
The company’s presence in Nigeria witnessed a massive boost when it partnered with the country’s fourth largest telecommunication service provider 9mobile, to offer software services to SMEs with access to telecoms infrastructure through mobile communication APIs.
