Ringier Africa, a subsidiary of Swiss media conglomerate, Ringier AG has formed a partnership with Silvertree Internet Holdings and together, they have acquired Dealdey. There’s been no mention of the amount paid for the e-commerce company so far. Ringier Africa wants to expand beyond the publishing/digital marketing niche nd they believe e-commerce is the smartest path to follow.
In the same vein, Leonard Stiegeler, the General Manager for Ringier Africa said, “Ringier Africa has identified e-commerce as a key area for growth and we are excited by the inclusion of DealDey in the Ringier Africa Deals Group. With the addition of e-commerce-experienced Silvertree as a partner and investor, we are on track to significantly increase out interest in the space, with particular focus on service the most important markets of Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya.”
Leonard Stiegeler
Co-MDs, Etop Ikpe and Kehinde Oriola took the reins from Sim Shagaya after he left to start Konga in 2012. After his departure, they started an expansion, raised $5 million in series B financing from Swedish investment firm, Kinnevik and eventually birthed Lyf and Promohub.
Kehinde Oriola will stay with DealDey as CEO supported by one Damien Bonnabel, the acting CEO of Ringier Africa Deals Group, but Etop Ikpe will move on to other things. “The DealDey team is excited about joining forces with the newly formed Ringier Africa Deals Group…” they said, “…it offers great opportunities as DealDey brings a wealth of experience in technology, merchant management and consumer behaviour in Nigeria and we will be leveraging the Ringier Africa portfolio in marketing, classifieds and media as well as Silvertree’s ecommerce expertise towards supporting the sustainable growth of the group.”
Dealdey’s value proposition – much like Groupon’s is to connect customers with merchants offering goods and services at lower prices than they are actually worth. About a month ago, news was going round the interwebs that DealDey had gone broke, and they had been owing merchants massive amounts for months. One person, in particular, a Nairaland user, Goldicz seemed to be the one at the vanguard of the accusations. We reached out to DealDey back then, and they chalked it up to a glitch with their automatic payments processor, but it’s been sorted out now.
Mark Slade, Ringier GM said about the acquisition, “I’m really excited about DealDey joining the Ringier family. It makes perfect sense, bolstering our position online in this market. We’re excited for the cross-business benefits and look forward to continued success in the ecommerce deal space.”
Everyone’s betting on digital commerce becoming huge in Africa, in the coming years and it’s not hard to see why. Nigerians’ consumer spending is pegged at $400 million per annum, and by 2020, it’s estimated that across the continent, people will spend $1.4 trillion every year.
“The country is an important entry market for e-commerce and there are significant players. We really believe the deals model that relies more on local merchants and offers both goods and services can differentiate itself from the Amazon models that Jumia and Konga are running.” says Leonard Stiegeler. He thinks the acquisition has put DealDey in a position to get a chunk of the cake; competing head-to-head with e-commerce giants, Konga and Jumia.
Hat tip to TechCrunch.
