DealDey used to be a daily deals website. Today, it simply posts deals.
When Groupon, the patron saint of daily deals flew too close to the sun and came tumbling out of the sky, it became obvious that DealDey would have to find another way. Especially because its founder and original flame bearer, Sim Shagaya, had moved on to lead Konga.com. DealDey would continue to lurch along, but the future looked uncertain, and it would change CEOs once again after another year and some months.
In early 2015 however, things began to happen. Or began to manifest outwardly. In February, DealDey received $5 million in follow-on funding from Kinnevik.
Not quite long after that, DealDey began spawning spinoff websites. We spotted Lyf.ng, a local business directory and search engine a month or so ago, and I just became aware of Promohub, a hub for, well, ongoing promotions.
Since we first wrote about Lyf.ng, it’s become clear that DealDey is going after Vconnect. And they are forging partnerships to do it. They’ve enabled movie ticket purchases via Tripican and have achieved integrations with Sure Gifts, One Credit and one of the major online hotel booking platforms — Dealdey reps wouldn’t say which, but my bet is on Mark Essien’s Hotels.ng, we’ll let you know which it is when they do.
Under current CEO, Etop Ikpe’s leadership (update, the startup has two CEOs, Kehinde Oriola is co-CEO), DealDey is morphing into a portmanteau of platforms. Will one of them become the coup that takes it to the next level? The re-invention that will finally earn it a place in the roster of thriving Nigerian internet businesses? Or will it transform into an unrecognisable chimera? As far as I can see, there seems to be method to the…method.
