IXAfrica, an East African developer and operator of hyperscale-ready data centers, and Helios Investment Partners, a private investment company with an emphasis on Africa, have announced that Helios intends to invest $50 million in IXAfrica as growth capital to hasten the creation of IXAfrica’s Nairobi data center campus. The transaction is anticipated to close before the end of the year, barring any unforeseen circumstances, including approval from Kenyan regulatory authorities.
IXAfrica was founded in Kenya in 2021 and has a leadership team with experience working for multinational data center operators as well as local technical and connection skills. Young and rapidly expanding populations’ increasing desire for Internet access in Kenya led IXAfrica to obtain a 17,300 square meter property in Nairobi, the country’s capital, along the Mombasa Road. All of the current core Internet connectivity infrastructure is conveniently accessible at this site.
When the Nairobi campus is fully developed, IXAfrica will provide the Kenyan market with more than 20MW of hyperscale-ready data center capacity. According to IXAfrica, Kenya is a hypercloud-ready region with advanced cloud adoption tendencies, a technologically mature ecosystem, access to a variety of internet fiber connectivity, high-availability and low-carbon power sources, and a stable regulatory and political climate.
“IXAfrica is a story of a superb and determined management team benefiting from the foresight, innovation and support of its founding shareholders, and an attractive and dynamic internet ecosystem in Kenya,” said Tope Lawani, Managing Partner and co-founder of Helios. “This serves to enhance the fundamental factors that make IXAfrica an exciting investment opportunity for us as we continue to develop our digital infrastructure franchise.”
Partnership with LINX
IXAfrica’s ambitious growth goals would be further strengthened by this strategic alliance between IXAfrica and Helios, which also lays the groundwork for possible regional expansion. Helios’ 18-year track record of developing rapidly expanding, multi-country, digital infrastructure platforms in Africa that have a discernible impact on the region would immediately benefit IXAfrica.
IXAfrica is committed to provide “top-notch” data center facilities that can accommodate both the domestic and international Internet markets. According to the company, the data center infrastructure offered by IXAfrica would be of the highest caliber and can accommodate the most demanding businesses within the Internet, banking, retail, media, and other corporate sectors.
Due to the abundance of telecom and data networks present, IXAfrica clients create an environment where data can be transferred with nearly low latency and internet content can be supplied to all consumers. Following IXAfrica’s recently signed partnership with LINX, its clients and partners will have access to approximately 1,000 networks worldwide, establishing Nairobi as a significant regional Internet center.
“This strategic investment will fast track the development of our cloud ready campus as the digital transformation hub of East Africa,” said Guy Willner, Executive Chairman and Founder of IXAfrica, and Ex-President of Equinix Europe. “We are delighted to have Helios join our shareholder base as a core investor. Helios has demonstrated a deep commitment to internet infrastructure development and this, combined with their leadership in African private equity, will ensure IXAfrica becomes a market leader in Kenya.”
