InstaDeeps acquisition is a classic case of an African startup gone global

News Summary

  • First, when completed (at $682 million, adjusted in U.S. dollar terms), it’ll become the largest acquisition deal involving an African or Africa-focused startup, besting prices bargained for Sendwave, DPO Group and Paystack.
  • I believe this is an exciting time, and we will have more to share in coming months,” Beguir said about the acquisition without divulging new information while adding that InstaDeep will use its Series B funding and exit money to scale its teams and capabilities across Africa and globally.
  • Frankly, we [InstaDeep and early investors like AfricInvest] did not expect that to happen,” expressed Ben Jilani, whose firm may be sitting on a conservative 10x+ exit multiple based on independent calculations.
  • Ultimately, this helps companies optimize the decision-making process and improve efficiency.Karim Beguir and Zohra Slim founded the startup in Tunis in 2014 with “two laptops, $2,000, and a lot of enthusiasm,” CEO Beguir told TechCrunch last year.
  • Yet, it’s too early to assume that because of that, it’ll suddenly open the sluice of venture capital in Tunisian tech or Africa’s AI market, which currently lags several industries as hotbeds of investments on the continent.
  • In reality, AI is essential for Africa’s success in the 21st century, and the reason is that it is the transformational technology of our time; I think you’ll see so many examples these days from GPT and beyond of its disruptive potential,” Beguir, who is half-Tunisian and half-French continued.
This January, Germanys largest vaccine maker BioNTech announced that it had agreed to acquire Tunisianborn and Londonheadquartered AI startup InstaDeep for up to 562 million, including a performan [+8558 chars]