Raxio Data Centres has announced a CEO succession plan while securing an additional $46 million in private equity funding, solidifying its position as a well-funded data center colocation platform on the African continent. Existing shareholders Roha and Meridiam have made a sizable investment in Raxio, demonstrating their continued faith in the company's ability to execute its plan.
This extra $46 million in equity finance comes soon after Raxio was successful in obtaining earlier this year from Proparco and the Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF), a Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG) subsidiary, a facility of up to $170 million in debt. Combining these investments has strengthened Raxio's financial stability and secured its development possibilities, making it one of the best-funded independent data center platforms on the African continent.
“This investment marks a milestone achievement for Raxio. We are grateful for the trust and support of our existing shareholders, Roha and Meridiam,” said Robert Mullins, CEO of Raxio Data Centres. “This capital injection will allow Raxio to continue to expand its presence across the continent and to deliver the resilient mission critical environments that our customers are looking for. As the best-funded data center platform on the continent, it is our responsibility to advance Africa’s digital infrastructure and connectivity capabilities while upholding the highest standards of sustainability and operational excellence. We are excited about the future and look forward to continuing our mission of enabling businesses across Africa to thrive in the digital age.”
The newly obtained funds will be deliberately used to assist Raxio's growth plans and to enable the construction of superior, hyperscale-ready data center facilities in premier African metropolises. Raxio Data Centres would now be able to meet the increasing need for reliable data processing, storage, and networking solutions in Africa by leveraging this investment to provide improved services.
“The digital revolution in Africa is gaining momentum, and Raxio is playing a pivotal role in fueling this transformation,” said Mathieu Peller, Partner and Deputy CEO at Meridiam. Meridiam is thrilled to be a part of Raxio’s journey and contribute to its mission of enhancing connectivity and data center services across the continent. With this additional equity injection, we look forward to witnessing Raxio’s continued growth and impact.”
Robert Mullins’s Successor
Concurrently, the Raxio Board of Directors have engaged Egon Zehnder to locate a replacement for Robert Mullins, who informed the Board recently that he intends to transfer the leadership to a successor in the latter part of 2024.
“Building the company from scratch to where we are today has been extremely gratifying, and I have enjoyed every minute of it,” added Robert Mullins. “With four more data centers coming on-line over the coming 6-9 months, the job will increasingly shift to managing ongoing operations, alongside business development. Having secured all the funding needed to execute our current business plan it seemed like the natural moment for me to hand over the baton to someone else.”
Marvin Bell, Board member of Raxio and East Africa Director at Meridiam, commented: “When we joined Roha as investors in Raxio we believed in the vision that Robert articulated for the company, and we are very grateful that he has delivered.”
Brooks Washington, Founder and Managing Partner at Roha Group added: “Under Robert’s leadership, Raxio has far surpassed our expectations from the beginning of the journey - his accomplishments have laid a strong foundation for Raxio’s future.”
Bernard Geoghegan, independent Board member at Raxio commented: “Robert always made it clear that he was primarily interested in managing the initial development stages of the company, and his decision to move on does not come as a surprise. We truly appreciate that Robert has given us an early heads-up, so that we have ample time for both the recruitment of and the transition to a new CEO for Raxio’s next phase of development.”
African data Center Coverage
With a presence in seven key African regions, Raxio Data Centres has quickly become a dominant force in the African data center industry, becoming a platform with one of the largest footprints. The countries in which Raxio operates include Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, and Angola.
Raxio Data Centres placed a high priority on sustainability across its operations and has made a long-term commitment to it while designing and developing its facilities in these important markets. By decreasing its energy and water usage via creative and efficient designs and equipment choices, Raxio is committed to minimizing the environmental impact of its facilities. Additionally, the company supports green projects that would benefit the communities in which it operates.
