Wasoko, a Kenyan-based e-commerce company, and Egypt’s MaxAB have finally sealed their much-anticipated merger. This merger, which was first announced in December 2023, brings together two of the continent’s largest players in the e-commerce sector, creating a conglomerate that extends from East Africa to North Africa.
The all-stock deal, which took eight months to complete due to its complexity, will see Daniel Yu of Wasoko and Belal El-Megharbel of MaxAB co-leading the new entity as Co-CEOs. While the merged company’s new name is yet to be revealed, it boasts an impressive network of over 450,000 merchants serving 65 million consumers spread across five countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Egypt, and Morocco.
Both companies have faced hurdles in expanding across the continent, and this merger allows them to leverage each other’s expertise in different regions. The new entity aims to offer a more comprehensive suite of services, including e-commerce, fintech, and digital services.
“The first thing we did was sit down and evaluate our ultimate objective, which was to build a world-class pan-African company that’s unlocking the full potential of the mass market. And what we realised in that process is that building out a pan-African is significantly harder than it looks. We saw the same opportunity on the ground in terms of a very fragmented informal retail space, but we underestimated the challenges when it came to running those localised operations, and especially building out the supplier networks and getting all of those commercial agreements in place,” Yu said.
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A key focus for the merged company will be expanding its financial services offerings. They’ve already provided over $20 million in merchant financing with a 99% repayment rate and are seeing significant growth in digital top-ups and e-wallet services.
Despite the challenges facing the B2B e-commerce sector in Africa, including funding declines and operational complexities, the newly formed company is optimistic about its future. With a combined workforce of over 4,000 employees and backing from high-profile investors like Tiger Global and Silver Lake, the merger sets a new precedent for tech consolidation in Africa and signals a maturing ecosystem ready for global competition.
The headquarters of the company will now be in Cairo, Egypt.