Zimbabwe’s richest man Strive Masiyiwa has revealed plans to raise up to $500 million to expand his digital infrastructure and services businesses under Cassava Technologies, with the goal of becoming the continent’s leader in digital services and solutions providers.
Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology leader, recently signed a deal to raise $50 million from C5 Capital, a specialist venture capital firm that invests in cyber, space, and energy security.
The $50-million investment, which is part of a larger funding round to accelerate Cassava’s growth, will be followed by additional $500-million fundraising plans, as the Masiyiwa-led technology group seeks to tap investors such as venture capital firm C5 Capital.
Cassava Technologies stated that the funds will be used to expand its broad-based operations, which include 110,000 kilometers (68,350 miles) of fiber, cloud computing, and nine data centers, with an additional 10 scheduled to launch over the next three years.
Nearly a month ago, Africa Data Centers, a carrier-neutral data center provider and a subsidiary of Cassava Technologies, announced the construction of a 30-megawatt data center facility in Accra, Ghana as part of its efforts to become the continent’s leading digital services and solutions provider.
The company’s new 30-megawatt data center facility in Accra, Ghana’s capital city, follows the establishment of a massive 10.65-megawatt data center facility in Lagos, Nigeria’s financial capital.
Recently, Masiyiwa’s net worth has dropped from $4.4 billion on May 1 to $1.5 billion on July 19 as a result of the depreciation of the Zimbabwean dollar and the decline in the shares of his publicly traded companies, Econet Zimbabwe and EcoCash Holdings.