When Africa's Talking raised US $8.6 Million earlier this year from IFC Venture Capital and Orange Digital Ventures, they highlighted "expand[ing] into more African countries" as their key thing.
But, re-enforcing their positions in the existing markets seems to be one of the key reasons.
In Uganda, the company has moved offices from Hive Colab along Kanjokya Street to Acacia Place along Acacia Avenue in Kololo.
The new space is big enough - at least for now - with the ability to accommodate their "future growth plans" as Norma Atamba told me. Norma is one of the people that launched the company in Uganda - together with Nicholas Kamanzi.
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Part of Africa's Talking team at their new office[/caption]
The company's team size has grown from two people at the beginning of the year to now 7. That's 5 permanent staff and two interns. Norma thinks the number is likely to grow by 2 to 3 more people by close of the year.
On top of a bigger space to accommodate their growth ambitions, the company is also looking to use it to hold regular "fireside chats" with developers. This, they believe will draw them closer to the developer community.
Another venture that exploded in numbers and had to move was Andela.
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Earlier this year, the company moved from The Innovation Village in Ntinda to Bukoto Street in Kamwokya. They are now occupying three floors of the building.
SafeBoda also got another office along Bukoto Street earlier this year. Making it their second.
At the end of last week, Taxify moved their offices from Bugolobi to Ntinda. I haven't found out why but the reason could be due to expansion as they have since started training Boda Boda riders. Something that requires a good amount of space.
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Most of the space still remains underutilized as they are still setting up[/caption]
All in all, it seems real estate owners are about to start smiling as more tech companies move into the country. Not only do they have the cash to burn, they also expand like a wildfire.
I mean, which company moves from less than 10 employees to over 80 in less than a year? Unless you're a tech company.