Nigerian Unlimited Wifi Service Provider, Tizeti and its consumer facing brand, Wifi.com.ng which offers unlimited, uncapped internet service across Lagos, Nigeria has raised $2.1 million in seed funding to connect more Nigerian subscribers to broadband internet.
Led by international investors including Western Technology Investment, Social Capital, Vy Capital, Picus Capital, Ace & Company, Lynett Capital Partners, Zeno Ventures and a number of angel investors including Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel and Gabriel Hammond, the funding will see Wifi.com.ng extend services across the city and the South-South region of Africa’s most populous country, by launching an Xfinity Wifi-like Hotspot service, as well as scaling up mobility with the inclusion of 3,000 new public hotspots across Lagos.
According to Tizzeti co-founder Kendall Ananyi, “Today’s seed announcement allows us to grow aggressively in the Nigerian market, and we will continue to invest in building out our own solar powered infrastructure, as well as refine and expand our consumer focused product that delivers reliable, cost-effective Wifi to potentially millions of Nigerians. We aim to ‘win Lagos’, with a view to expanding across the West African region over the next 18-24 months”.
Tizeti also builds and operates solar-powered towers to provide reliable and affordable Wi-fi services to hundreds of residential areas and SME’s in Lagos, Nigeria’s megacity with an estimated 21 million people. Tizeti is building out its network of 35 owned and operated towers, taking advantage of the rapidly decreasing cost of solar panels in the region; providing unlimited, undisruptive internet with a basic speed of 10mbps. Additionally, the company owns a delivery network that facilitates internet connectivity from Submarine Cables directly to their customers through its solar-powered Wifi towers.
Since graduating from Y Combinator in 2017, Tizeti has licensed Spectrum (fees and pricing) from the Nigerian Government and signed an IRU contract with a Submarine Cable provider to extend the coverage of its Unlimited Internet Service, which will put it in a stronger position to roll out additional services to more people.
Founded by Y Combinator Alumni Kendall Ananyi and Ifeanyi Okonkwo, Tizeti aims to address poor internet connectivity in Nigeria by building its own solar panel towers in key hubs in Lagos, where electricity grid is unreliable. The use of solar energy also reduces overheads on generators and diesel. It is estimated that 26% of Africans are online, however only 6% having an internet subscription, Wifi.com.ng aims to offer an affordable and flexible payment structure, with subscriptions starting from N9,500 / $30 a month, a price reportedly 30% cheaper than the large telcos.
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