BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY MEDIA FOR AFRICA

Silvertree acquires Nigeria's TopCheck

Silvertree acquires Nigeria's TopCheck
Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
08 Feb 2017

South African-based business incubator Silvertree Internet Holdings has acquired Nigerian price comparison website TopCheck for an undisclosed amount.

According to information supplied by the companies, TopCheck was founded by entrepreneurs Christian Wiesner Jose Figueiredo and Thomas Pilar in 2014, and headquartered in Lagos and Berlin.

It offers free online comparison for insurance products, loans and broadband internet plans, and is said to have raised 1 million Euros in venture capital in 2015 and processed up to 3 million Naira (US$10 million) in Gross Application Value per month in 2016.

A statement from both companies says that TopCheck will join Silvertree's subsidiary Compare Africa Group (CAG), which is active in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, and offers online price comparison of goods and services through various websites.

CAG owns financial services website Compareguru and product comparison site PriceCheck, recently acquired from Naspers.

"The TopCheck team is excited to join forces with Compare Africa Group. Together, we are forming Africa's undisputed leader in price comparison", said TopCheck founder Thomas Pilar. "While our two companies had been competitors before, our strategies are completely in line: to be the number one online destination to acquire financial services in Africa. With TopCheck's market position in Nigeria, and Silvertree's wide reach throughout Africa, we look forward to further accelerating the company's growth across the continent."

Manuel Koser, co-founder and MD of Silvertree, explained the enormous potential in the comparison space: "We want to replicate the success of Check24 in the German financial services and insurance comparison space. TopCheck joining our portfolio is another step in building Africa's largest comparison conglomerate."

The companies say Christian Wiesner and Thomas Pilar will step aside as managing directors, but will continue to work with CAG as advisors. Ryan Marx, CAG's MD, will be heading TopCheck with immediate effect. "I am very happy that Christian and Thomas will continue to advise Compare Africa Group with their vast expertise in the Nigerian financial sector", said Marx.

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