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Tizeti, the wireless broadband internet services provider that is based in Lagos, Nigeria and Carlifornia, USA, has received capital injection of undisclosed amount from Zeno Ventures, a San Francisco-based Venture Capital Firm.
Zeno’s investment in Tizeti is the seventh of such commitments. The venture capital firm closed its debut fund earlier this year.
Internet accessibility has been recognised as a huge challenge in emerging markets is, especially Nigeria. But wifi.com, one of the several offerings of Tizeti, seeks to deliver fast internet service with exceptional customer service every day.
“There’s a ton of capacity going to 16 submarine cables coming into Africa,” said Kendall Ananyi, Chief Executive Officer of Tizeti in a chat with tech analysts. “The problem is getting the internet to the customers. You have balloons and drones and that will work in the rural areas but it’s not effective, in urban environments. We solve the internet problem in a dense area.”
Tizeti provides high speed broadband internet to residences, businesses, events, and conferences. It also deploys public Wi-Fi Hotspot at different locations to offer disruptive, customer-friendly pricing for unlimited internet service right across Africa.
The company provides its clients broadband internet connectivity via solar powered WiFi towers in Lagos, planning to roll out its operating model to other densely populated cities in Africa. It is graduating from the latest batch of start-ups to come from Y Combinator, a tech-focused programme that invests up to $120 thousand in eligible companies.
It proposes a simple solution to the connectivity problem: build more towers more cheaply, and offer internet services at a cost that makes sense for consumers in the urban environments where most people actually live.
Customers buy unlimited data plans starting at $30 per month pay which is a considerable saving on competitive mobile plans, as well as offering users short-term hotspot services. With only 1% of the continent’s population having a broadband subscription, the opportunity for expansion is enormous.
“There are 1.2 billion people in Africa, but only 26% of them are on online and most get internet over mobile phones,” Ananyi said. “Perhaps only 6% of that population has an internet subscription.”
Ananyi previously worked with Microsoft before partnering with Ifeanyi Okonkwo, a former Blackberry employee, to found Tizeti.
Tizeti has built up to 35 towers in Lagos at a cost of nearly $7,000. The cost would have been $17,000 per month if the company was using standard generators.
According to Ananyi, while the company’s service is typically offered in the home, it is getting set to debut a new universal hotspot service for anyone with a cell phone. That cheaper plan can be made available to anyone who has a wi-fi enabled device.
