Nigerian web hosting company GO54 formerly known as WhoGoHost has been acquired by South African HOSTAFRICA.
The acquisition, announced on January 14, 2025, will position HOST AFRICA as one of the foremost hosting companies in Nigeria.
Since its founding as Cloud Machine in 2008, HOST AFRICA has been strategically expanding its footprint in Africa. In 2017, a year after acquiring VPS Networks, it rebranded as HOST AFRICA.
The company said its latest acquisition will integrate GO54’s local expertise with HOSTAFRICA’s broader network. It promises customers better and more advanced hosting services.
This acquisition comes just one year after GO54 renamed itself WhoGoHost in 2007, the year it was founded by Opeyemi Awoyemi, a student at Obafemi Awolowo University at the time.
The company has now grown to become one of the largest Nigerian web hosting companies with a 20% market share. HOST AFRICA will now take on the company's over 100,000 customers.
Michael Osterloh, CEO of HOSTAFRICA, said “We are thrilled to welcome GO54 to the HOSTAFRICA family officially. This partnership has been carefully planned with the GO54 team. We are eager to work together to elevate the hosting experience for customers in Nigeria and beyond.”
This will be HOST AFRICA's 11th acquisition since it was founded in 2009. Every year since 2019, it acquired a web hosting company until 2021 when it acquired DomainKing to enter the Nigerian market.
Besides acquisitions, HOST AFRICA has also absorbed some hosting companies into its network.
Written by Omoruyi Edoigiawerie, a seasoned startup attorney with over a decade of experience. Learn more.
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Meanwhile, GO54 also has one acquisition to its belt. In September 2023, it acquired SendChamp to expand its customer value offerings. The acquisition was done to transform GO54 from a provider of domains and hosting infrastructure to a diverse digital services platform focusing on online presence, communication, domains, and online commerce products.
Web hosting has become a hot topic in Nigeria since the dollar rate made it necessary for Nigerian startups to consider local providers to save money. Interestingly, foreign web hosting and cloud providers like AWS now charge in naira.
However, Andrew Mori, Co-founder and CEO of cloud solutions provider, Deimos believes a localised approach could be the key to unlocking Africa's cloud potential.
