Funke Opeke’s MainOne Cable Company Acquired by Us-Based Equinix at $320 Million Valuation

Funke Opeke’s MainOne Cable Company Acquired by Us-Based Equinix at $320 Million Valuation

Funke Opeke was named one of the World’s Top 50 Women in Technology (2018) by Forbes, in recognition of her work which sparked internet adoption in Nigeria.

Funke Opeke is the founder and CEO of MainOne Cable Company, a leading provider of innovative telecom services and network solutions for businesses in West Africa. MainOne is the owner of three data centres in Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana, while a fourth is under construction. 

The company which previously raised funding to lay a sub-sea cable stretching from Portugal to West Africa is now being acquired by Equinix ( a US digital infrastructure company) at a valuation of $320 million, one of the continent’s biggest tech deals this year. This deal allows the U.S. data-centre investor to tap into a regional boom. 

The transaction includes MainOne’s land, enough to build another 10 data centres, according to Judith Gardiner, Equinix vice president for emerging markets. There is also an expansion plan that will be concentrated on the West African region. 

For MainOne, the deal provides the group with access to capital and networks to carry out its expansion plans, said Funke Opeke who will still serve as CEO of the firm.

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“Equinix will accelerate our long-term vision to grow digital infrastructure investments across Africa. I thank our founding shareholders led by Mr Fola Adeola, MainStreet Technologies, AFC, PAIDF, FBN, Polaris, and AfDB for investing in the MainOne vision to bridge the Digital Divide in Africa.”

“The MainOne team is excited about the partnership created through the acquisition, and we look forward to building our next chapter together.”

MainOne is the builder of West Africa’s first privately owned, open access 7,000-kilometre undersea high capacity cable submarine, a $240-million-dollar project that was completed in time and on a budget in 2010. MainOne also built West Africa’s largest Tier III Data Center, MDX-i’s Lekki Data Center, a $40 million investment with a capacity for 600 racks. The company generates about $60 million a year in sales and provides services to major tech firms including Google and Facebook Inc. Nasdaq-listed Equinix owns 237 data centres and operates in 27 countries. 

The Equinix-MainOne transaction is expected to close at the end of the first quarter next year, subject to regulatory approvals. 

Funke Opeke is an experienced telecommunications executive who returned to Nigeria in 2005 as the Chief Technical Officer of MTN after a twenty-year career in the United States. 

Before her return, she was the Executive Director of Verizon Communications Wholesale Division. After MTN, she advised Transcorp on the acquisition of NITEL and briefly served as the interim Chief Operating Officer, post-acquisition of NITEL. 

Funke Opeke completed a first degree in Electrical Engineering from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife Nigeria and a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Columbia University, New York.

She was recently named one of the Top 10 Women to Watch in the Data Center Industry by Data Centre Magazine.