By Modupe Gbadeyanka
An Egyptian start-up, Filkhedma, has been acquired by SweepSouth, a South African-based company also currently operating in Kenya and Nigeria.
“We are thrilled to have Filkhedma as part of the SweepSouth family,” the CEO and co-founder of SweepSouth, Ms Aisha Pandor, stated.
“It’s not only their services that align with ours, but also their values and culture. Just like us, Filkhedma is passionate about providing quality and trusted home services, while creating work opportunities for those who need it most,” she added.
“We’ve proven our technology and operational expertise in numerous markets in sub-Saharan Africa, and this acquisition gives us the opportunity to extend that reach into Egypt, a huge market with millions of households.
“Coming together with the Filkhedma team represents the next phase of building SweepSouth into a global platform that will continue to expand our services not only on the continent but further abroad as well,” the co-founder of the firm, Mr Alen Ribic added.
Filkhedma is Egypt’s leading home services marketplace operating across three regions on the continent and serving tens of thousands of customers with cleaning, maintenance, and beauty services while empowering over 2,000 service providers through technology with consistent incomes and professional development.
“We are happy with this incredible milestone and excited about joining forces with the SweepSouth team to fulfil our vision of empowering providers and delivering quality services in Africa and beyond.
“We already have well over 2 000 service providers on our platform and we’re confident that with the backing of SweepSouth, we will be able to sign up many more and expand into neighbouring countries, too,” the CEO of Filkhedma, Mr Omar Ramadan, stated.
Under the new arrangement, Mr Ramadan will play a key role in the executive team of the combined entity and that all employees of Filkhedma will stay on.
The acquisition means that SweepSouth will be one of a few African start-ups operating in the continent’s four key tech ecosystems of South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, and Nigeria. It also means that all markets will have access to new services almost immediately, while the company as a whole will be primed for further expansion into other parts of Africa and the Middle East.
For South Africa, the biggest change will be the imminent rollout of beauty services. This will include manicures and pedicures, hair care and makeup services that can be done at home. This not only gives SweepSouth customers access to more services, but it also gives entrepreneurs in the field the opportunity to list on the platform. This, in turn, allows access to a larger pool of potential customers.
For Egypt, the company will benefit from SweepSouth’s technology, as well as the indoor and outdoor home cleaning services already available in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
Naspers Foundry Head, Fabian Whate, said, “This acquisition has the potential to yield significant synergies. Filkhedma is an excellent business and is aligned to SweepSouth’s ambitions to expand its service offering and gain access to high growth markets across the region.
“Egypt’s growing middle class and rising financial inclusion and internet penetration, offer huge opportunities for the combined home services platform of the two companies. Helping high-potential early-stage tech companies scale is central to what Naspers Foundry does and we’re particularly excited about this milestone in SweepSouth’s journey.”
“We are very excited to see this partnership happen and the prospects of this combined entity,” said Tarek Assaad, Managing Partner at Algebra Ventures, the lead investor in Filkhedma. “Filkhedma pioneered the home services industry to become the largest player in Egypt, and this consolidation with SweepSouth demonstrates the parallel fits between Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa. Companies partnering across the continent pave the way to cross-border investments, and highlight that we are one step closer in addressing the untapped opportunities existing in Africa’s key markets.”
“Egypt has been a strong economic player on the continent for many years,” notes Pandor. “The country has a strong, and growing, middle-class that has been underserved in the domestic home services arena. With a compelling economic growth track record and outlook, and an economy that has been resilient in the face of challenging times, it made sense for us to eye this market for our next big leap.”
“We are entering a rapid growth phase and executing on a number of other new country launches in 2022,” adds Pandor. “Having the Filkhedma team on board is particularly exciting as it’s an intra-African acquisition by two companies in the same vertical. This acquisition almost doubles our addressable market on the continent and enhances the products and services that we already offer.”
“We are particularly excited about the growth prospects this acquisition presents us with,” Ramadan notes. “Already we have a string of new software updates coming thanks to this acquisition and we are also able to offer our expertise in onboarding our popular services, such as air conditioning technicians, satellite dish installations and home appliance repairs, in other regions.”
“I look forward to working with Aisha, her co-founder Alen Ribic, and their team as we enter this exciting new chapter,” he concludes.
