Uber is here for EasyTaxi and Tranzit. Well Jumia and Konga, get ready. South African based e-commerce company, Takealot.com has just raised $100 million from investment company, Tiger Global and CEO Tim Reid in an expansion move into sub-Saharan Africa.
Takealot.com was launched June 2011 after the acquisition of an existing e-commerce business called Take2 by the US based Hedge Fund, Tiger Global Management in October 2010. The site sells a variety of products, and runs its own warehouses in Cape Town and Johannesburg and it also runs its own logistics with the purchase of a majority stake in delivery platform, Mr. Delivery.
The $100M will help the platform take on the increasing e-commerce players on the continent and if the firm expands around Africa as is being rumored, it will take on Rocket Internet’s Jumia and Sim Shagaya’s Konga; both have expansion plans into several countries in Africa as well.
Tiger Global has a massive investment portfolio in internet businesses in the US, India and Africa such as iROKO Partners, India’s CommonFloor and FlipKart and others.
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