Nigeria’s Africa Internet Group raises further $225 million

Africa Internet Group – a Nigerian e-commerce group – has secured further funding worth a total of US$245 million from investors including Goldman Sachs, South African telecoms group MTN and Germany’s Rocket Internet, it said on Thursday.

Africa Internet Group (AIG), which was founded in Nigeria in 2012, owns several technology companies that operate in 26 countries across the continent including online retailer Jumia, delivery app HelloFood, Africa’s largest hotel booking platform Jovago and online real estate marketplace Lamudi.

Investors have been attracted by a growing demand for online products in more developed African markets in recent years and the prospect of larger disposable incomes among a growing middle class with burgeoning smartphone use making it easier to spend.

The additional investment by MTN, which bought a 33 percent stake in AIG in 2014, comes despite the current dispute with Nigeria over a demand it pay US$3.9 billion in fines for failing to cut off unregistered SIM card users on its local wireless network.

In all the latest investments, which are additional to the US$ 82 million that French insurer AXA said last month it was paying for an 8 percent stake, will take AIG’s capital up to US$1.09 billion, company officials told reporters.

Goldman Sachs executive Jules Frebault said in a statement the investment bank had been “impressed by AIG’s pan-African operations”.

Despite the opportunities presented by the continent, the experience of those online can vary greatly according to internet speeds and network coverage which is reflected in online spending habits in Africa’s biggest economy, Nigeria.

Source: Reuters