Naspers has sold online price comparison platform, PriceCheck, back to its original founder Kevin Tucker and Silvertree Internet Holdings for an undisclosed sum.
The deal was signed this week and sees Tucker regain the company he sold to Naspers in 2010.
"It is an exciting prospect to retake the reins of a company I started almost a decade ago. Naspers, through investment and strategic partnerships, has built PriceCheck to be a leading price and product comparison platform," says Tucker.
He started the company in 2006 and sold it to media giant Naspers four years later for an undisclosed sum. Now it has become Africa's largest price comparison service, with over five million products listed from retailers, including Zando, Konga and Jumia.
"My challenge now is to consolidate the considerable headway they have made over the last five years and build an infrastructure to service the many millions more Africans that will be venturing online for consumer goods, predominantly via mobile, in the coming years."
Tucker is partnering with Silvertree through its subsidiary, ClicknCompare. PriceCheck joins other brands in the Silvertree portfolio, including Cybercellar and Faithful to Nature.
PriceCheck originally launched in South Africa and expanded into Nigeria in 2013. The platform now sees 25 million unique annual visitors across its two platforms, and has recorded year-on-year growth of 40% in South Africa and 600% in Nigeria. PriceCheck says it has recorded 40% of South African and 90% of Nigerian traffic for the site coming from a mobile device.
Silvertree co-founder and MD Manuel Koser says the acquisition will complement Silvertree's growing portfolio of e-commerce companies.
"PriceCheck is a leading presence in the price comparison market and has an impressive growth trajectory for the coming years. It is an exciting time for Africa's e-commerce sector, as the continent's rising consumer class continues to flock online in search of top deals and best prices," he adds.
Andre de Wet is stepping aside from his role as CEO and says his five years heading up PriceCheck were "a fantastic journey".
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