Zimbabwean billionaire Strive Masiyiwa’s Cassava Technologies, a leading pan-African technology company, has announced a $50 million investment from C5 Capital, a London-based venture capital firm that specialises in related fields like cybersecurity, energy security, and cloud computing infrastructure.
The technology company is led by Strive Masiyiwa himself, one of Africa’s most prominent businessmen and enterprise-tech leaders. Cassava is operational in 20 African countries, providing digital solutions like cybersecurity, cloud computing, and fibre networks for up to 500 million people across the continent.
It’s not every day we get to see a venture capital firm pump lump sums into a cybersecurity business in Africa. With this raise, Cassava is setting a precedent in Africa’s cybersecurity space, which is still considered to be scarcely tapped into.
Cassava will not stop at raising funds. It plans to raise the cyber security infrastructure on the continent.
Through a partnership between Hayden Cyber—a company in C5’s portfolio—and Liquid Cloud & Cybersecurity, one of Cassava’s businesses, expertise in cybersecurity is set to be pushed forward by the launch of cutting-edge Cyber Security Operation Centres (CSOCs) across Africa.
Cybercrimes are rising in Africa and significantly affecting the continent’s GDP. Shoprite, Africa’s shopping conglomerate, was a recent target of RansomHouse, an infamous ransomware group.
Also, 71% of Nigerian organisations were recently reported victims of ransomware demands. With 623 million Africans projected to be connected to the internet by 2025, the state of online security in the continent continues to be a matter of rising concern.
Meanwhile, Masiyiwa is currently seeking US$500 million funding to expand his company and serve even more institutions and individuals on the continent.
