Takealot, a South African e-commerce site, has raised a whopping $100 million from Tiger Global Management.
The company is still relatively young, launching in 2011, post the acquisition of an existing e-commerce business called Take2 by Tiger Global Management and CEO Kim Reid. The site has attempted to capture the e-commerce power that Amazon has harnessed, and offers DVD’s, Games, Music and Books as well as items in lifestyle categories like Home and Kitchen, Baby and Toddler, Health and Beauty and Sports.
Takealot says it now has warehouses in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and has taken over fulfillment logistics with the purchase of a controlling interest in Mr. Delivery.
The new funding is going to be used for further expansion in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa.
Similar to the e-commerce opportunity in India from a few years back, Africa’s technology revolution is a function of the dramatic rise in access to cheaper bandwidth and the proliferation of mobile devices and the development of a home-grown market for content and commerce. Africa represents a huge emerging growth area for e-commerce in particular as online transactions still only account for only 1 percent of all retail purchases.
As internet connectivity expands in the continent, Takealot wants to be the de-facto e-commerce giant. As we reported a few months ago, more money is being put into African startups and companies. According to CrunchBase, 2013 was the most active year for technology investment on the continent. Clearly 2014 may be shaping up to be similar.