SweepSouth, the on-demand home cleaning company backed by Naspers, has acquired 100% of FilKhedma, an Egyptian start-up, giving it a foothold in North Africa.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

The acquisition “almost doubles SweepSouth’s addressable market on the continent and paves the way for the launch of new services in South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria”, SweepSouth said in a statement on Friday.

Like SweepSouth, FilKhedma is a “home services marketplace”. It operates in three cities and serves “tens of thousands of customers with cleaning, maintenance and beauty services, while empowering over 2 000 service providers through technology with consistent incomes and professional development”, SweepSouth said.

SweepSouth co-founder Alen Ribic said in the statement: “We’ve proven our technology and operational expertise in numerous markets in sub-Saharan Africa, and this acquisition gives us the opportunity to extend that reach into Egypt, a huge market with millions of households.

“Coming together with the FilKhedma team represents the next phase of building SweepSouth into a global platform that will continue to expand our services not only on the continent but further abroad as well.”

FilKhedma CEO Omar Ramadan will stay on after the acquisition, as will all employees.

Four main markets

“The acquisition means SweepSouth will be one of a few African start-ups operating in the continent’s four key tech ecosystems of South Africa, Egypt, Kenya and Nigeria,” the company said.

Naspers, through its Naspers Foundry start-up fund, bought a stake in SweepSouth in 2019 for R30-million.

SweepSouth was co-founded in 2014 by Ribic and Aisha Pandor. The platform matches demand for trusted cleaning services that was previously unfulfilled — the online platform connects clients to pre-vetted cleaners. — (c) 2021 NewsCentral Media