https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/31/instadeeps-acquisition-is-a-classic-case-of-an-african-startup-gone-global/

This January, Germany’s largest vaccine maker BioNTech announced that it had agreed to acquire Tunisian-born and London-headquartered AI startup InstaDeep for up to £562 million, including a performance-tied £200 million tranche investment.

InstaDeep’s deal — subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the first half of this year — is quite intriguing, for a few reasons. First, when completed (at $682 million, adjusted in U.S. dollar terms), it’ll become the largest acquisition deal involving an African or Africa-focused startup, besting prices bargained for Sendwave, DPO Group and Paystack. Second, unlike the other high-profile acquisitions, InstaDeep isn’t a fintech. And third, although early believers who witnessed InstaDeep’s growth from a local firm to a global startup knew it had enough exit options, they didn’t think the acquisition would happen this fast, said Khaled Ben Jilani, senior partner at AfricInvest, one of InstaDeep’s earlier investors, on a call with TechCrunch.