Africa Startup M&A Watch | Jiji × Bikroy

Jiji.ng has acquired Bikroy, Bangladesh's largest online classifieds platform, marking the Lagos headquartered company's first acquisition outside Africa and expanding its footprint into Asia.

The transaction represents an important step in Jiji's international growth and demonstrates how capabilities developed in African emerging markets can increasingly be applied to other high growth markets facing similar challenges around digital commerce, trust, payments and marketplace liquidity.

A Track Record of Consolidation

Jiji has consistently pursued a "compete then consolidate" strategy as it has expanded across emerging markets.

The company acquired OLX Africa in 2019, followed by Cars45 in 2021 and Tonaton Ghana in 2022. The acquisition of Bikroy in Bangladesh extends this strategy beyond the African continent for the first time.

Each transaction has strengthened Jiji's position within established digital marketplaces while providing access to existing users, brands, technology and local operating capabilities.

The strategy also illustrates how consolidation can be used to accelerate growth in fragmented digital markets where building scale organically can take significant time and resources.

From Africa to South Asia

The cross continental dimension of the Bikroy transaction is particularly notable.

Jiji has developed its marketplace expertise in several African markets characterised by fragmented commerce, varying levels of digital adoption and complex trust dynamics between buyers and sellers.

Bangladesh presents a different market, but also shares several characteristics with the emerging markets where Jiji has previously operated.

The ability to transfer operational knowledge, marketplace technology and growth strategies between these regions demonstrates how African technology companies can increasingly become sources of expertise and capital for other emerging markets.

This creates a broader opportunity for African founded companies to expand internationally by applying capabilities developed in Africa to markets with comparable structural characteristics.

M&A as a Growth Strategy

Jiji's acquisition history also highlights the growing importance of strategic M&A for African technology companies.

Acquisitions can provide more than geographic expansion. They can create pathways to existing customer bases, established brands, local teams and infrastructure while allowing acquirers to consolidate fragmented markets.

For founders and investors, the development of companies with the scale and capability to become acquirers also creates additional liquidity pathways within African technology ecosystems.

Rather than relying exclusively on international strategic buyers or public markets, successful African technology companies can increasingly become acquirers themselves.

What We See

At Double Feather Partners, we continue to track how African startups are evolving into globally relevant operators.

Jiji's acquisition of Bikroy is an interesting example of this transition. A company that built its capabilities within African emerging markets is now taking those capabilities into South Asia.

The transaction also reinforces the role that strategic M&A can play in shaping liquidity, regional consolidation and cross border expansion across emerging markets.

As more African technology companies reach meaningful scale, we expect to see an increasing number of businesses moving from being acquisition targets to becoming acquirers themselves.

This evolution could create a more mature technology ecosystem in which successful companies have multiple pathways for growth, consolidation and international expansion.

Congratulations to the Jiji team and its leadership, including Vladimir Mnogoletniy and Anton Volianskyi, on this significant milestone.