Techcabal just broke the awesome news that Konga just raised 25 million dollars.  That itself is a big story, but looking closer, what is the bigger gist.

Let us pay a little attention to the financiers. Here is a quote from the TechCabal story

Beyond the fact that the round is skewed towards Swedish Kinnevik’s lead, we could not ascertain the structure of the deal, nor the resulting valuation. Preceding cash injections saw $3.5 million seed (Kinnevik) and $10 million series A (Kinnevik, Naspers).

Kinnevik is basically the lead investor and has great control.

Let us move back a few weeks to the story of the MTN – Rocket Internet/AIH deal. The owners of Jumia and co via Africa Internet Holdings

The partnership will result in MTN, Millicom and Rocket Internet each holding a 33.3% stake in Africa Internet Holding (AIH).

So Millicom and Rocket Internet control AIH with 66.6% and in turn Jumia.

So why mention Kinnevik?

Well, Kinnevik practically owns Millicom and yes they are the largest investors in Rocket Internet.

Oh Shit! I hear you exclaim. Ah Shit indeed.

Kinnevik controls (technically you could argue) both Jumia and Konga and practically own ecommerce in Nigeria. That my friends is the bigger story.

Which brings me to a prediction for the next year I missed in my post yesterday. Konga and Jumia Nigeria will become one and will be run by Simdul Shagaya. With the co founders of Jumia rumored to have left, I do not think it is that far fetched.

PS. Let me introduce you to Cristina Stenbeck. The boss at Kinnevik. The most powerful person in the African Internet space.  She is 36 years old. *bows*

Cristina Stenback

17 thoughts on “With Konga’s 25 Million Dollar Raise, Here is the Bigger Story.

  1. Oo this is news! We need to begin to think what Nigerian money bags are doing, allowing this to happen? What is Dangote doing with the appelation ‘Africa’a Richest’?

  2. @EddieJimete: Kinnevik is a major player in the Nigerian E-commerce market, holding stakes in almost, if not all, successful E-commerce site in the country.
    It’s been difficult for budding online entrepreneurs to get investments from within as many potential local investors are still sceptical about online ventures.
    And for the likes of Kinnevik, opportunities like this are highly welcomed.

  3. You sure we wont just acquire Fonenode so you can come do “investigative” reporting” for a new yet to be named tech blog? YNaija has given me a new occupation 🙂

    Better this kind of analysis is done this way than beer parlour gist. There is probably an even bigger story but that is just me speculating that she won’t stop at just e-commerce. Maybe all our infrastructure woes may soon be history.

    According to my uncle, “there is only one table where all the people that matter sit and meet. You need to build or acquire something significant to be on that table.” She owns that table now

  4. you’re on to something here, OO!
    the telco collabo takes care of the following for kinnevik:
    – access to large subscriber base for sms spamvertising at low cost
    – discounts on the outrageously priced short code airtime-payment method (potentially deals with some payment challenges temporarily)
    – reduction of connectivity cost when infrastructure is localized to attract more customers

    inasmuch as it’s good news for the founders and staff of the business, people need to help the local regulators see the dots (and then connect them) to foster true competition in the interest of users. next steps?

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