South African software startup Snapt has announced the appointment of 4Di Technologies as its African distributor as it looks to scale up its presence on the continent following a US$1 million funding round.
Disrupt Africa reported earlier this month Snapt, which was founded in South Africa in 2012 and is a provider of software-based load balancers and application delivery controllers (ADCs), raised US$1 million in funding from Convergence Partners to aid its further expansion.
The startup Snapt has already built a client base of 10,000 customers across 50 countries, and established an independent sales and marketing arm in the United States (US) last year to cope with increasing demand, but chief executive officer (CEO) Dave Blakey said the partnership with 4Di was an indication of the company’s commitment to its home continent and the opportunities it offers:
“We are delighted to be working with the experienced and passionate team at 4Di Technologies. The company is part of the 4Di Group, a founding member of Silicon Cape. They are an excellent fit for us because, like us, they are part of an ambitious, motivated local technology group with global aspirations,” he said.
The company achieved year-on-year growth of 400 per cent in each of the last two years, and is aiming to capture a one per cent share of the US$6.5 billion application delivery software market within the next three years with the help of the recent investment.
Blakey said while Snapt has built its customer base in the US, it remains firmly South African, and was now looking to scale up its presence in its home market as well as elsewhere in Africa.
Alistair Freeman, CEO of 4Di Technologies, said he was excited by the potential for Snapt in local markets. While the initial focus will be on South Africa, he said his team has already reached out to resellers in East and West Africa, who believe there is enormous potential in their markets.
“Our channel partners are very excited because they see Snapt as truly disruptive. It offers better performance and is far easier to use than the traditional appliance-based players in the ADC space,” Freeman said.
“Furthermore, it is designed from the ground up to be the leading ADC for a virtual environment and comes in at a fraction of the price of competitors’ products. Because of these disruptive aspects and the growing number of high volume websites in the local South African and broader African market we see huge potential for our channel partners who continue to look for products that add value to their end customers.”
