Nigerian startup Tizeti announces $2.1m Y Combinator funding round

Tizeti, a Nigerian startup which develops solar powered WiFi towers with its Wifi.com.ng service, today announced it had secured $2.1-million in funding through US-based Y Combinator from several investors.

“Today’s seed announcement allows us to grow aggressively in the Nigerian market, and we will continue to invest in building out our own solar-powered infrastructure, as well as refine and expand our consumer-focused product,” said Kendall Ananyi, the CEO of Tizeti, in a press release.

The round’s investors include Western Technology Investment, Social Capital, Vy Capital, Picus Capital, Ace & Company, Lynett Capital Partners, Zeno Ventures. The round also consists of a handful of angel investors including Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel and Gabriel Hammond.

The company aims to become a “Comcast for Africa” by building and operating solar-powered WiFi towers around Lagos.

Tizeti wants win over Lagos by expanding its solar-powered WiFi towers

Since Tizeti’s Wifi.com.ng uses its own infrastructure to support its WiFi network, it has a competitive advantage with its pricing, which starts at $30 a month.

This new injection of capital will allow the company to include an extra 3 000 WiFi towers across Lagos. Ananyi also mentioned that the company plans to “win” over Lagos by expanding across the West African region in the next two years.

“Since graduating from Y Combinator, we’ve licensed Spectrum (fees and pricing) from the Nigerian Government and signed an IRU contract with a submarine cable provider to extend the coverage of our Unlimited Internet Service, which will put Tizeti in a stronger position to roll out additional services to more people such as our new Wifi Hotspot Service,” said the company’s co-founder Kendall Ananyi.

Featured image: Tizeti co-founder Kendall Ananyi (Supplied)