• Africa Data Centres says it will expand its facilities in South Africa by 20MW of capacity after receiving R2 billion in funding from Rand Merchant Bank.
• The firm owns 10 data centres across Africa, with campuses in Johannesburg and Cape Town locally.
• Additional capacity will be attractive to clients in Africa, which is seeing rocketing demand for hyperscalers.

In terms of local cloud computing and hyperscalers, excluding giant international corporations like Google and Amazon, few are moving around as much money or building as much infrastructure as Africa Data Centres. The latest from the Cassava Tech-owned firm is plans to add 20MW of capacity to its existing hyperscaler campuses in the country.

This comes after the company raised R2 billion in funding through a partnership with Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), a Sandton-based corporate bank and holding firm.

According to an emailed statement sent to Hypertext, Africa Data Centres was able to raise the funds thanks to a “bespoke financing solution” arranged by RMB.

“This funding is a significant milestone in the growth of Africa Data Centres,” said Hardy Pemhiwa, Group CEO of Cassava Technologies in the statement.

“It underscores our commitment to growth and our confidence in the future of the South African data centre market. The additional funding will allow us to support the digital transformation journeys of our customers.”

Africa Data Centres, apart from data centre and hyperscaler facilities in East and West Africa, operates data centre campuses in Samrand and Midrand, Johannesburg, as well as in Cape Town. Altogether it has 10 facilities across the continent.

Its South African data centres are set to receive 20MW of additional capacity thanks to this latest accrued funding. The R2 billion upgrade will “provide the highest standard of interconnected, carrier and cloud-neutral data centre facilities,” it adds.

South Africa, specifically Johannesburg, is the largest data centre market in the Southern Hemisphere. Between Teraco, Vantage and Africa Data Centres, the city’s facilities consume more power and produce more data than those in Montreal, Madrid, Delhi, Boston, Berlin, Warsaw, Oslo and Stockholm.

It is also the largest and most notable data centre market in Africa, according to a 2024 report. African businesses are rushing to find equal ground with digital companies from other international markets, which means they require cloud computing and fast.

New companies across the continent are springing up, eager to provide facilities for their usage.

“The data centre space presents a significant digital infrastructure opportunity, as there is currently a large deficit of supply versus demand. With the exponential growth in demand for data centre capacity in Africa, we are proud to partner with Africa Data Centres as they facilitate digital transformation across the continent,” added Nana Phiri, head of corporate client group at RMB

“We see this funding as part of RMB’s mandate of financing the development of a sustainable digital economy in South Africa.”

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