Zimbabwe-born billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, who runs firms including Africa’s largest fibreoptic cable network, plans to raise as much as $500m to expand his digital infrastructure and services businesses.
The tycoon’s Cassava Technologies will tap investors including venture capital firm C5 Capital Management for the financing plan, Hardy Pemhiwa, CEO at Cassava, said in an interview. The company signed a deal on Friday to raise $50m from C5 Capital.
Masiyiwa, who sits on the Netflix board, wants to tap the tech-savvy and young population in the world’s second-largest continent by expanding his businesses from providing cybersecurity to payment services in a region that lacks digital infrastructure.
Demand for higher-speed internet and data storage is increasing in Africa as millions of people get connected, mostly using their mobile phones.
Cassava wants to “really ensure that Africa has got a technology company of continental scale that can stand up among, you know, the giants”, Pemhiwa said. That is “something that Africa has never had”, he said.
Masiyiwa, who founded telecommunications group Econet Global, announced in November that certain assets including Econet’s fibre-broadband networks and data centres would be folded into a separate entity to form Cassava. The firm already generates almost $1bn of revenue a year, Pemhiwa said.
Cassava plans to use the funds to expand businesses such as the one that manages Econet’s 110,000km of fibre, cloud computing and nine data centres with another 10 coming over the next three years, Pemhiwa said. It also owns a renewable energy unit.
The company may consider an initial public offering in the future, but its current focus is on building a pan-African technology company of scale, Pemhiwa said.
Bloomberg has reported talks between Cassava and Fintech Acquisition Corp VI, a blank-cheque company backed by serial dealmaker Betsy Cohen.
Masiyiwa’s wealth is estimated at $2.7bn by Forbes.
