Nigeria tech space excites venture capitalists as TLcom bet $5m on Terragon Group
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Nigeria’s Terragon Group, digital and marketing tech solutions provider, has received a $5 million capital boost from TLcom Capital, an African venture firm betting on Africa’s data analytics markets.
Terragon thus becomes the second beneficiary of TLcom Capital’s investment in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since it announced a $40m seed fund (TIDE Africa Fund) dedicated solely to startups and growth stage digital companies on the continent in 2017. The first commitment came by way of participation in Andela’s $40m Series C round.
TLcom Capital’s model is to reach out to startups it finds interesting, not the other way around. The firm maintains a database of over 900 “investible companies” in SSA, from which it plans to pick about 10 to 12.
“We liked that the business (Terragon Group) has matured into a new platform with very strong technology behind it,” TLcom Capital Partner, Ido Sum is reported to have said on the investment adding that Terragon “allows the largest advertisers and brands to reach consumers in a way they couldn’t do before.”
For Terragon Group, this is the first publicly known institutional investment they are involved in. In fact, according to Elo Umeh who founded the group in 2009, they have practically bootstrapped their way to profitability, generating as much as $5m annual revenue from a range of solutions and products.
Umeh indicated that the new capotal injection is for expansion, and that Terragon Group currently employs over 100 people across offices in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and South Africa.
“The plan is to spread their tentacles even farther,” he said, adding “today the strategy is to be dominant on the continent of Africa.”
He revealed that at some stage the company would look at licensing its technology into Southeast Asia and Latin America.
Located in Lagos, Terragon’s software services give its clients, primarily telecommunications and financial services companies, data on Africa’s growing consumer markets. Its products allow users to drill down on multiple combinations of behavioural and demographic information and reach consumers through video and SMS campaigns while connecting to online sales and payments systems