Data centre operator Teraco Data Environments has secured a further R158m in funding. The financing includes both equity and debt, with the World Bank’s International Finance Corp and the Development Bank of Southern Africa providing R80m in senior debt.

The financing will be used to support Teraco’s growth, with its Johannesburg data centre to be expanded to three times its current size and two new facilities opening in Durban and Cape Town.

The company’s existing investors are participating in the new funding round. They are Treacle Private Equity, Pentangle Group and Marlow Capital. Marlow acted as advisor for the financing.

Founded in 2007, Teraco is a “vendor neutral” data centre operator, meaning it’s not aligned to any of the country’s telecommunications operators.

In an interview late last year, MD Lex van Wyk told TechCentral that the company would invest nearly R300m in new data centres over a 24-month period on the back of escalating demand for cloud computing services from corporate SA.

He said at the time that other African markets were also of appeal to Teraco and that Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Zambia and Botswana were all potential sites for data centres. — Staff reporter, TechCentral