Intel acquires stake in local firm

Global micro-chip maker Intel Corporation has acquired an equity stake in Ghana’s Rancard Solutions, following the injection of capital into the operations of one of the country’s fledgling technology firms, B&FT has gathered.

Actors in the deal have remained tight-lipped about terms of the deal, which also involves Adlevo Capital.

Intel, which closed the deal last week, acted through its global investment subsidiary -- Intel Capital -- and the investment into Rancard Solutions marks Intel Capital’s first investment in West-Africa and the first outside South-Africa.

Intel Capital is a US-based venture capital investment firm owned by global micro-chip maker Intel Cooperation, while Adlevo Capital is a Mauritius-based private equity firm.

Intel’s investment into Rancard shows that the local firm, founded a decade ago, is doing something good that has caught the attention of global firms ready to expand their frontiers into Africa.

The co-founder of Rancard Solutions, Kofi Dadzie, told the B&FT that investments of the two venture capital firms will play a vital role in expanding the company’s footprint across Africa at a reputational and operational level.

“We’re delighted that both Adlevo Capital and Intel Capital have agreed to come onboard at a time of such opportunity, and are excited about working with such experienced and globally recognised partners.

“The total capital investment will enable us to build a larger multinational team and fast-track our geographic expansion across Africa,” he said.

Mr. Dadzie said the deal connects Ghana firmly to the new wave of technological innovation happening in Africa, further enabling technology as a key driver for growth in the region.

Since launching in 2001, Rancard has established itself as a trusted provider of cloud-based mobile software and services, which Africa’s mobile operators are increasingly turning to.

As voice-based average revenue per user declines, mobile operators are increasingly using Rancard’s content discovery platform to profitably increase data revenues by delivering targetted content to their subscribers.

The company has developed a cloud-based social recommendations engine called ‘Rendezvous’, which maps connections among mobile users and then uses this mapping of shared interests as a basis for recommending content to consumers.

Yemi Lalude, Managing Partner of Adlevo Capital said: “Rancard is a perfect example of African entrepreneurs bringing world-class technology solutions to market. The company is uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between content owners and mobile operators and is poised to benefit from the growth in mobile data services.

Our lead investment in Rancard will leverage Adlevo Capital’s industry expertise gained from backing successful mobile value-added service companies in other geographies.”

Recently, the Sub-Saharan Africa Director of Intel Capital Sam Mensah told the B&FT that Intel is ready to put money -- above US$1million and not more than US$1.5billion -- into Ghanaian IT-focused companies that have products and services which will eventually help Intel’s eco-system innovations.

The sudden interest in Ghanaian companies has been driven in part by the surge in broadband infrastructure and availability of huge bandwidth capacities on the shores on the country.

The President of Intel Capital and Intel Executive Vice President of Intel Coperation, Arvind Sodhani, said: “Improvements in broadband infrastructure across sub-Saharan Africa has created the need for development of a local content ecosystem between telcos, content and service providers to deliver engaging user experiences on mobile devices.

“As a global investor, Intel Capital has invested in and built similar ecosystems in emerging nations all over the world.”

Christian Morales, General Manager, Europe, Middle East, Africa of Intel Corporation, said: “As a business Rancard provides a wide range of services that are well-placed to meet consumers’ rapidly shifting demands, particularly as the market for cloud-based mobile content grows. It’s a company that has a promising future and one we feel could benefit not just from access to our capital, but also from our global network and technological expertise.”

Since 1991, Intel Capital has invested more than US$10billion in over 1,140 companies in 52 countries. In that timeframe, 191 portfolio companies have gone public on various exchanges around the world and 268 were acquired or participated in a merger.

Last year, Intel Capital invested US$327million in 119 investments with approximately 44 percent of funds invested outside the United States and Canada.

However, Africa has had the least of Intel’s investment activities with only US$5million being invested in companies operating from the continent.**