Santam, South Africa’s largest short-term insurer by customer base, is acquiring e-commerce startup Kandua for an undisclosed amount. Kandua will merge with Santam’s existing home service offering, Home+, to form a wholly owned, independent subsidiary of the insurer.
Founded in 2014 by Sayo Folawiyo and Arjun Khoosal, Kaduana offers an online marketplace for home services that enable consumers to connect with, compare and hire professionals such as plumbers, electricians, carpenters, and more. Service providers can also use Kandua to find new customers and manage their business processes. The startup raised an undisclosed pre-Series A in July 2021.
The company claims to connect over 40,000 vetted home service companies to about R50 million worth of work opportunities from individual and business customers every month.
“Kandua’s talent, technology and customer base are valuable assets for our business, as it opens up new avenues for client growth and digital innovation,” said Gloria Tapon-Njamo, CEO of Santam Partnership Solutions.
For Kandua, the acquisition will enable the company to accelerate its mission of “make marketing and business operations easier for service providers,” said Folawiyo.
Over the last few years, South African corporates have been active in acquiring startups in the country. Some transactions in that time include TymeBank’s acquisition of Retail Capital, Altron’s acquisition of LawTrust and UbushaTechnologies, PicknPay’s acquisition of delivery startup Bottles App, African Fashion International’s acquisition of Wezart, and The Foschini Group’s acquisition of e-commerce and last-mile delivery service Quench.