CDC Group, the UK’s development finance institution, announced an additional US$40 million equity investment into Liquid Telecom, Africa’s largest independent fibre, data centre and cloud technology provider.

This marks CDC’s second investment in the company, following a US$180 million equity investment in 2018.

CDC’s additional investment is made as part of Liquid Telecom’s wider fundraise where the company attracted US$307 million through a rights issue to shareholders. This investment will support Liquid Telecom’s plan to expand its pan-African data centre operation business, Africa Data Centres, and consolidate its position as the leading data centre operator on the continent.

Currently, it is estimated that less than 20 percent of potential telecommunications enterprise demand is being served in Africa, with London having three times more cloud computing power available than the entire continent.

Liquid Telecom’s development of data centres will boost economic activity by reducing IT related costs for companies. Increased local capacity will spur innovation by offering affordable data storage and Software-as-a-Service (Saas) applications  to SMEs.

Additionally, the company’s cloud-based services will also help accelerate the growth of Africa’s tech start-up ecosystems whilst also supporting the needs of established enterprises across the continent.

CDC CEO Nick O’Donohoe said: “Our aggregate investment to Liquid Telecom now stands at US$220 million, this will play an important role in addressing the increasing demand for digital services and help close the digital divide between Africa and other regions.”

Liquid Telecom CEO Nic Rudnick said: “Africa has significant untapped economic potential that is being unlocked by improving connectivity, data storage and the use of cloud-based applications. This investment will bring significant economic benefits to developing markets across the continent.”