Jovago secures 75m EUR investment

Jovago.com, a leading hotel booking website, and Insurance provider Axa, announced today a partnership to develop the expansion of Jovago and a new round of funding to boost its activities in Africa. This would further ensure the expansion of the business to booming markets and the strengthening of the brand in the existing branches of major cities across Africa.

As part of the deal, Axa will invest Euro 75 million and own approximately 8% of the capital of AIG (Africa Internet Group), mother company of Jovago. As a result, AXA will thus become a shareholder of AIG along with MTN, Rocket Internet and Millicom.

“This new wave of funding of 75 million euros will help Jovago achieve the acceleration of its growth and development of its services across Africa in the coming years. ” said Paul Midy, CEO of Jovago.

“ It’s amazing for Jovago to partner with such a strong group as Axa who will allow us to strengthen our ability to build the first plateform for travellers in Africa. Jovago wants to break the barriers to travel and make travel more easy and affordable in Africa. The suppoer of AXA will be key to succeed. ” said Paul Midy, CEO Jovago. He continues by explaining that “since the funding is well-timed and the amounts invested significant, this makes for one of the top investments in the history of start-ups in Africa. It also strategically positions Jovaog and Africa Internet Group to further build e-commerce in Africa.”
This investment will allow AXA to build on the strength of AIG companies to further develop its acitivities. AXA will become the exclusive provider of insurance products and services through AIG.

“This transaction confirms AXA’s long-term commitment towards the African markets and represents another step in our development on the continent. Africa is home to some of the most dynamic and promising insurance markets in the world and our partnership with Africa Internet Group will enable us to accelerate materially our development by having access to their rich customer base and to their state-of-the-art e-commerce technology. Going forward, we aim to enable African consumers to better access insurance solutions to create sustainable financial well-being throughout their ives and those of their dependants”, added Denis Duverne, Deputy CEO of AXA.

According to the company, their inventory lists 25,000 hotels in over 40 African countries and 200,000 hotels worldwide.