Led · Equity · Jun 2026

Zimi develops an electric vehicle ecosystem aimed at commercial fleets, focused on expanding EV adoption in logistics and fleet operations. The company plans to use the recently raised capital to scale fleet deployments across South Africa and accelerate sustainable transport initiatives. Zimi positions itself as supporting lower-carbon transport systems and innovation within the logistics sector, a rationale echoed by its lead investor DBSA. CEO Michael Maas announced the fundraising close and framed the investment as key to advancing its mission. The article discloses the company’s recent $3.1 million raise but does not provide additional operating metrics or prior fundraising history.

Participated · Debt Financing · Sep 2015

Smile Telecoms Holdings is a pan‑African telecommunications group founded in 2007 and incorporated in Mauritius, led by CEO Irene Charnley. It owns and operates 4G LTE mobile broadband networks in the 800MHz band in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda and has an associate in South Africa and plans to launch in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company launched commercial 4G LTE networks in 2012, starting in Dar es Salaam and Kampala, followed by Ibadan and Lagos in Nigeria. Core products and services are super‑fast data and, by the end of 2015, clear voice services; planned network roll‑out work involves Alcatel‑Lucent and Ericsson, a full MPLS network, a London point of presence and expanded international backhaul. Smile's stated objective is to become the broadband provider of choice for high‑speed data and clear voice across its markets and to provide over 300 million potential customers in its four countries of operation with a high quality platform. The company raised $365M of financing to accelerate national network roll‑out and fund operating expenditure and working capital.

Participated · Debt Financing · Sep 2015

Smile Telecoms is a Mauritius-based telecommunications company that operates LTE broadband networks in Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda. It offers mobile high-speed broadband and plans to launch in the Democratic Republic of Congo early next year. The company intends to expand its LTE infrastructure to match the coverage of its 3G networks by the end of this year. Smile says it has more than 300 million potential customers across those four markets, where internet penetration remains low (Nigeria 38%, Uganda 23%, Tanzania 14%, DR Congo 6.5%). The new capital will fund infrastructure buildout and help it compete with incumbents such as MTN, Airtel, Telefonica and Orange. Since founding in 2007 the company has now raised $600 million to date.

Participated · Debt Financing · Jun 2011

Teraco Data Environments operates data centres across Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban and is described as Africa’s largest data-centre company. The company plans to almost double its data centre capacity to just under 200MW over the next three to four years. Teraco raised R11.8-billion in new funding; just under half of the loan financing was led by Absa Group and will be used as growth capital to expand solar capacity and data centres, with the remainder used to refinance existing facilities. As part of its energy strategy the company will build a utility-scale 100MW solar farm and add rooftop solar to its data centres. Management has set targets to generate half of its power from clean energy by 2027 and all of it by 2035, subject to approvals and grid connection from government and Eksom. Last year San Francisco-based Digital Realty Trust bought a majority stake that valued Teraco at about US$3.5-billion. Teraco Data Environments builds and operates vendor-neutral colocation data centres for demanding IT infrastructure requirements. Founded in 2007 and led by CEO Tim Parsonson, the company operates a control centre staffed by specialists who monitor client equipment and data centre environmental parameters 24/7. It completed a R158m Series C equity and debt financing to support growth. Teraco intends to use the funds to expand its Johannesburg colocation data centre to three times its current size. The company also plans to open two new colocation facilities in Durban and Cape Town. Its offering targets customers requiring high-availability IT infrastructure in South Africa.