What Nigerian startup(s) do you think will be the first to be acquired by a bigger international brand/company?

#1

If I had to guess, I think the first of such acquisitions would be a fintech startup. Maybe Paystack or Paga (Square? Paypal?).

And by the way, I don’t think there’s going to be any M&A of any sort until like 2023-ish. The industry is still young and internet and smartphone adoption is still penetrating Nigeria.

I initially thought Deal Dey could position themselves perfectly for a Groupon acquisition in 4 years but my opinion has changed on that for some time now. Not sure Jumia will ever reach that point but hey, I could be wrong.

Also, what do you think it would take for the market to make the startups look ripe enough for acquisition to these companies?

#2

iRoko? Huge potential to grow exponentially if the right vc’s come on board.

Paystack and Flutterwave are more likely to merge…same with Jumia and Konga.

Other startups will be secretly bought. I.e undisclosed fee…

#3

Good call on Iroko but Jason strikes me as the kinda guy that’ll refuse to sell.

I highly doubt that Jumia & Konga potential merger though. It would be unlike Rocket Internet to do so.

#4

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i have this confident that paga paystack nairabox payport will get there soon

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#5

Can’t quite read what you wrote bro. Could you use a bigger font size?

#6

lol, I see what you did there! hilarious!

#7

That’s cold

#8

I think the better question should be:

What Nigerian startup(s) do you think will be the first to acquire an international brand/company?

#9

I also don’t get the eagerness to “sell out” but uhm… I may have liked your comment in a hurry.

When you say:

You mean the way Didi bought UberChina…right? :neutral_face:

#10

Huh? That’s not going to happen anytime soon, sorry.

#11

What if I told you Jason is actively looking for buyers and investors? This is one thing I strongly dislike about raising huge capitals to build a business. Once you are out there, there is no going back. Expectations are high and your performance is constantly being measured.

Sometimes, you might be better off milking your cow privately. Long story but I will keep it short for the time being…

#12

You almost always have to raise outside capital at some point in the world of startups. Unless you have deep pockets. Otherwise, your startup will move much, much slower than it should.

#13

First the question about which Nigerian startup will be acquired or bought by a foreign entity is a foolish one.
Why cant a Nigeria company grow and acquire instead?
Dont build to quit but build to acquire…

#14

With Naira turning to something else you will need Billions of Naira

#15

Please let them know

#16

What percentage of the company do you think he still has left ?

#17

You think he doesn’t have much left?

#18

I assume he still has the highest percentage of all shareholders. Not quite the same as owning less than 10% or something like that.

#19

Media
Iroko would be a solid acquisition for an African Telco. Likely to happen if you believe trends in Western telco market will take place in Africa. For example, partial acquisition of Tidal by sprint or yahoo by Verizon. Also likely to happen considering growth of OTT services (whatsapp) in Africa and its impact on telco margins (evident by slowing growth in voice/sms revenue). Telcos will likely look to defend their business by pursuing bundled services. I believe MTN is aggressively hiring investment bankers for sourcing new investment opportunities.

Fintech
Africa’s fragmented payments market means international payment companies will be forced to acquire a local operator to make market entry seamless. Not sure who will be first here but guaranteed to happen for sure particularly because by 2050, China, India, and Nigeria become the most populated countries by this order whilst mobile and internet penetration will far surpass commercial territory.

#20

Never looked for an investor nor attempted to sell Iroko in my life. Every capital raise has been inbound interest or driven by existing partners / investors.

At Iroko I basically set my own expectations. After time folks are confident in you enough not to bother you with their ambitions.