South African online home services platform SweepSouth , has acquired FilKhedma, an Egyptian home services marketplace with three cities, in order to grow into the North African country.
SweepSouth, which began operations in 2014, is an online platform that provides on-demand home cleaning services in a number of South African cities. The company has received significant funding, especially from Naspers, and is currently expanding across Africa.
SweepSouth has acquired Egypt’s FilKhedma as part of this. FilKhedma is an online marketplace for house maintenance and renovation services such as plumbing, carpentry, electricity, air conditioning, painting, and appliances, founded by Omar Ramadan in 2014.
The startup’s platform enables users to book home services, receive an exact time slot, get a quality guarantee and approve a price quotation before receiving one of its background-checked technicians. On the other side of the marketplace, it onboards technicians after testing their technical and customer service skills.
FilKhedma announced earlier this month it had raised a bridge round of funding from Cairo Angels as it prepares to announce a “significant milestone”, which it now emerges is its acquisition by SweepSouth.
“We are thrilled to have FilKhedma as part of the SweepSouth family,” said Aisha Pandor, CEO and co-founder of SweepSouth. “It’s not only their services that align with ours, but also their values and culture. Just like us, FilKhedma is passionate about providing quality and trusted home services, while creating work opportunities for those who need it most.”
Co-founder Alen Ribic said SweepSouth had proven its technology and operational expertise in numerous markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“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,” he said.
“We are happy with this incredible milestone and excited about joining forces with the SweepSouth team to fulfil our vision of empowering providers and delivering quality services in Africa and beyond,” Ramadan said.
“We already have well over 2 000 service providers on our platform and we’re confident that with the backing of SweepSouth, we will be able to sign up many more and expand into neighbouring countries, too.”