Andile Ngcaba’s Convergence Partners has closed a funding round for its Digital Infrastructure Fund, securing more than R5bn.
Convergence Partners, a private equity firm specialising in digital infrastructure investments, said it had raised $296m (R5.124bn). This surpassed the initial target by over 18%, the company said.
The capital raised represents the firm’s largest fund to date, bringing total funds under management to more than $600m. Funding was backed by existing and new investors comprising global and regional development finance institutions, pension funds, and financial institutions based in Europe and Africa.
The firm says the fund is focused on investing in digital infrastructure opportunities across Sub-Saharan Africa. This includes fibre networks, data centres, wireless, towers, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), and other infrastructure “that is vital for the growth of the digital economy in the region”.
“We are extremely grateful for the continued support of our repeat investors and the new support given to us from first-time investors that have joined us on this journey to address the challenge of digital inclusion across the continent, one technology at a time,” says Ngcaba, who serves as chair at Convergence Partners.
“This fund will enable us to continue leveraging our deep knowledge of technology, investments and the African market to deliver measurable impact.”
The businessperson is well known as the former executive chair of local technology giant Dimension Data and his role in government as director-general of communications.
Didata and Ngcaba have been at loggerheads for at least four years after the former chair of its Middle East and Africa region accused the company of breaching an equal pay agreement and of racial discrimination.
Ngcaba took the company to court in 2020 alleging racial discrimination and violation of an equal pay undertaking, an allegation that the company denies.
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