PETALING JAYA: Axiata Digital Sdn Bhd, the digital services arm of Axiata Group Bhd, is selling its digital ventures portfolio at a valuation of US$140 million (about RM579 million) to Pegasus 7 Ventures Pte Ltd.
The group said in a statement today that the sale involves ownership stakes in digital businesses such as India’s largest rural commerce platform, StoreKing and global micro-insurance company BIMA.
According to Axiata Digital, the portfolio is largely focused on companies that address the needs of under-served consumers and encompass services such as micro-insurance, online to offline (O2O)/rural commerce, e-commerce, last mile solutions for banks and e-mobile virtual network operator (e-MVNO) segments.
Pegasus, a Singaporean investment fund managed by Gordian Capital, is expected to drive the growth of the portfolio, accelerating value creation by scaling these companies and enhancing their access to global financial, strategic and operational partners.
The portfolio companies currently under management are StoreKing, BIMA, FreedomPop, 11street and etobee with operations across Asia, US and Africa and co-investors that include Allianz X, Kinnevik, Millicom, LetterOne, Intel Capital, Atomico, Mangrove Capital Partners, LeapFrog Investments and Kejora Ventures.
“It is a pleasure to partner with Axiata Digital on a portfolio which addresses emerging market needs, with distinct solutions and innovations for those at lower income groups. These companies are poised to scale significantly and create value for their stakeholders while continuing to make positive impacts in under-served communities.
“The addition of these assets to the Pegasus 7 portfolio is synergistic with our thematic focus and will serve as an enabler for our future growth path,” said Pegasus 7 Ventures founder and CEO Gautam Saxena.
“The partners in Pegasus 7 understand our vision, our markets and our portfolio companies which we’ve built to focus on our ecosystem of telco and digital assets. We strongly believe this handover will ensure the assets continue to thrive through access to our customer base, joint marketing and other synergistic activities,” said Axiata Digital CEO Mohd Khairil Abdullah.
Meanwhile, Axiata Digital will continue to focus on its three core verticals which include digital financial services (Boost), digital advertising (ada) and digital platform (Apigate).
