Africa Data Centres (ADC) has drawn down the first tranche of a $300million strategic investment from the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to expand the presence of its data centres across Africa.
As a business of the pan-African technology group Cassava Technologies, ADC facilitates Africa’s largest network of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centre facilities.
The DFC approved its first strategic investment in ADC back in 2021; $83million of which will be used to expand the reach of the network across the continent.
Although ADC has its eye on expanding in South Africa, having confirmed that the investment will be largely applied to that purpose, it also has very ambitious plans on the back-burner to build data centres in 10 of Africa’s largest economic capitals; which geographically would include Abidjan, Accra, Lagos, Cairo and Casablanca.
This will run in conjunction with improvements to its current data centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town as ADC seeks to solidify its prominent market position.
Africa’s data centre market currently equates to just one per cent of global cloud capacity. However, the continent’s market value is forecast to grow to $3billion within the next three years; at a growth rate of around 12 per cent a year.
Commenting on the expansion of the data centre operations in South Africa, Tesh Durvasula, ADC’s CEO, describes how the increasing demand for cloud technologies has risen with the necessity for African data to be stored on the continent too, adding that “Africa needs more data centres. We are pleased that our data centre expansion programme in South Africa funded by DFC will cater to the growing demand in the country.”
Hardy Pemhiwa, president and CEO of Cassava Technologies, the umbrella group that operates ADC, reveals that the group has received a $50million investment from C5 Capital, which it will utilise to launch cybersecurity operations centres across six markets in Africa.
“Through these investments, Cassava Technologies is building Africa’s digital infrastructure to enable accelerated economic development and ensure a digitally connected future that leaves no African behind,” added Pemhiwa. “Africa has unrealised economic potential that will be unlocked by this investment from DFC.”
Pemhiwa confirms the group’s collaboration with DFC, which will aim to “overcome Africa’s digital infrastructure deficit and accelerate the adoption of cloud services and digital applications, further making the continent a competitive destination for international investment.”
Image and article originally from thefintechtimes.com. Read the original article here.