Ajua, a Kenyan shopper expertise startup, has merged with Price My Service (RMS), one other Kenyan agency that builds instruments for companies to measure and enhance buyer and worker interactions.
The merger displays a rising push amongst Kenyan tech corporations to consolidate capabilities and scale past their residence market, as competitors from each native and worldwide buyer expertise platforms intensifies. Rivals embody Africa’s Speaking and Emalify, which supply enterprise buyer engagement instruments.
Ajua didn’t disclose the character or worth of the transaction, and neither firm offered income figures. The mixed entity framed the deal as a strategic transfer uniting complementary strengths and positioning for development in East, West, and Southern Africa.
Price My Service’s CEO, Ashkay Shah, will change into the mixed entity’s chief know-how officer (CTO), taking on the product roadmap and main future improvement. Ajua’s chief government Nyasha Mutsekwa, will retain his position as CEO of the mixed entity.
“The largest success of any merger is aligning cultural values, ” Shah mentioned, including that the groups have built-in easily, with no redundancies deliberate. “There isn’t a plan to do away with any workers.”
Mutsekwa, who took over from founder Kenfield Griffith in January, instructed TechCabal that the merger needs to construct “from a product depth perspective, in addition to from capabilities.”
The merger additionally marks Ajua’s renewed curiosity in Nigeria. The corporate shut down operations in Lagos throughout the COVID-19 pandemic however plans to restart. Mutsekwa mentioned Nigeria’s market stays a precedence given its measurement and regional affect. Nigerian companies wrestle to ship constant, high-quality customer support. A 2023 Nigeria Buyer Service Index report scored the nation 61.8%, properly under Ghana’s 73%.
RMS has developed real-time suggestions and analytics instruments that Ajua didn’t supply, whereas Ajua has established a bigger consumer base, built-in cellular cash and cost programs, and has expertise working in a number of African markets.
“Placing these collectively now is smart,” Mutsekwa added, noting the mixed entity needs to “consolidate the East African market” earlier than re-entering West Africa. The mixed firm now claims to serve 45 clients in Kenya and holds 80% of the nation’s buyer expertise market.
Based in 2012 as mSurvey, Ajua has raised $1.8 million so far, together with a $1.5 million seed spherical in 2021. That very same yr, it acquired WayaWaya, a Kenya-based AI and machine studying messaging and funds firm, to increase its automation and funds capabilities. RMS additionally launched in the identical yr.
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