JSE-listed fintech group Capital Appreciation is acquiring Dariel Solutions, the holding company of Dariel Software, for R131-million, to be settled in cash and shares.

Founded in 2001, Dariel is a South African IT software services provider that provides software, consulting, development, implementation and integration services, as well as maintenance and support, to enterprises in the healthcare, telecommunications, hospitality, mining and manufacturing sectors.

Its particular focus is in financial services, insurance and fintech. It also provides cloud services, allowing customers to innovate and test new platforms on the cloud across the major cloud platforms, including Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.

Capital Appreciation, meanwhile, provides technology-based products and solutions to enterprises across multiple sectors, including financial services.

Capital Appreciation CEO Bradley Sacks said Dariel fits his company’s model of investing in “established, asset-light companies that deliver innovative and disruptive fintech solutions to mainly institutional clients, with a culture and business ethos well aligned with that of the group”.

“We have experienced significant growth in our businesses due to accelerating digital transformation and the robust demand for cloud services, online applications, data intelligence, electronic payments and other software solutions. Dariel participates in many of these compelling areas of activity.”

Dariel, which was founded by Malcolm Rabson, Gregory Vercellotti and Wayne Yan, will form part of Capital Appreciation’s software division.

‘Exciting opportunities’

“Being part of a listed company with a proven growth strategy and the financial resources to support us means we will be able to expand our products and services and will be able to participate in projects for which we are sometimes overlooked,” the founders said in a statement.

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“It also provides us with exciting opportunities to access international markets and gain access to a broad base of skills in cloud, artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as specialist UX/UI capabilities.”