Orange Digital Ventures invests in Africa’s Talking, leading distributor of mobile communication and payment APIs to developers
Upon completion, Africa’s Talking plans to accelerate its internationalisation to support its clients’ expansion strategies
We believe that it is essential to support every initiative that aims to make these APIs more accessible to entrepreneurs in Africa
Orange Digital Ventures (www.DigitalVentures.Orange.com) Africa, the Orange (www.Orange.com) investment fund’s new initiative for Africa launched last June, is proud to announce its first investment, helping Africa’s Talking (https://AfricasTalking.com) to raise $8.6 million alongside the IFC World Bank and Social Capital.
Based in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa’s Talking is currently the leading company providing access to telecom operators’ communication and payment APIs (programming interfaces) for developers. It is now the favourite solution of many Kenyan startups and over 15,000 developers, many of which rely on these APIs including SMS, voice and USSD to design services that are revolutionising financial, energy, health and insurance services among others.
The transaction is subject to the usual conditions precedent, including the approval of Kenya’s competent authorities.
Upon completion, Africa’s Talking plans to accelerate its internationalisation to support its clients’ expansion strategies. Beyond Kenya, the company has started working in Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Malawi, Nigeria and Ethiopia.
“We are delighted that the first beneficiary of our African initiative is a recognised player providing access to operators’ APIs. We believe that it is essential to support every initiative that aims to make these APIs more accessible to entrepreneurs in Africa. The expansion of these mobile services is one of the key ways to help generate new innovations that will have an impact on the continent. What is more, this investment strengthens Orange’s position as leader in the ongoing mobile revolution. We look forward to seeing Africa’s Talking accelerate its pan-African expansion,” said Marc Rennard, Chairman of Orange Digital Ventures.
“This new round of fundraising will enable us to grow our pan-African community of Software Developers building businesses that consume communication and payment services. In this context, the arrival of Orange Digital Ventures is excellent news for Africa’s Talking. We intend to leverage this relationship to accelerate our expansion in countries where Orange is present and launch new products that deepen the engagement of Orange with Software Developers,” said Samuel Gikandi, CEO and co-founder of Africa’s Talking.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Orange.
Press contact: + 33 (0)1 44 44 93 93
Olivier Emberger; Olivier.Emberger@Orange.com
About Orange Digital Ventures
Orange Digital Ventures (www.DigitalVentures.Orange.com) is an early-stage technological investment fund of €125 million for international projects. It finances innovative startups in the fields of connectivity and networks, SaaS for companies (cloud, AI, big data, cybersecurity, etc.), Fintech and the Internet of Things. Among other things, Orange Digital Ventures Africa aims to help daring entrepreneurs who are creating innovative digital services for the African continent. Supported by the Orange group, the fund offers “smart money” by facilitating the implementation of synergies with its many business units and its 263 customers in 29 countries. For more information visit www.DigitalVentures.Orange.com or follow us on Twitter @Orange_DV
About Orange
Orange (www.Orange.com) is one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators with sales of 41 billion euros in 2017 and 150,000 employees worldwide at 31 March 2018, including 91,000 employees in France. The Group has a total customer base of 263 million customers worldwide at 31 March 2018, including 202 million mobile customers and 20 million fixed broadband customers. The Group is present in 28 countries. Orange is also a leading provider of global IT and telecommunication services to multinational companies, under the brand Orange Business Services. In March 2015, the Group presented its new strategic plan “Essentials2020” which places customer experience at the heart of its strategy with the aim of allowing them to benefit fully from the digital universe and the power of its new generation networks.
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