Terragon, Africa’s leading data, and marketing technology company, today announced that it has acquired Bizense, a Singapore-based mobile technology company, in a cash plus stock deal which is the first of its kind and scale in Africa.

This deal will see Terragon control its intellectual property assets globally, enabling it to further adapt and integrate its marketing technology software for financial services institutions and consumer brands across Africa.

Terragon’s Founder and CEO, Elo Umeh, says: “Due to lack of options, most African businesses are left to depend on licensed technology built for other markets. With the peculiarities and associated problems Africans are faced with on mobile devices remaining unsolved, Terragon is taking the lead in mobile and digital transformation through best in class software, top talent in artificial intelligence and machine learning, as well as product innovation, to provide custom solutions.”

Bizense has core expertise in mobile advertising and targeting technologies with operations in key Asian markets including India, Singapore, and Indonesia. The acquisition will help Terragon scale its digital transformation and data monetization service which it currently provides to a number of leading African Telcos.

Amit Khemchandani, Bizense Founder & CEO, says: “Terragon’s pan-African scale, extensive client base, and ambition is what excites us about joining the team. The similarities between Africa and Southeast Asian markets and the unmatched technology we have co-developed provides a tremendous opportunity for us to capitalize on the momentum we’ve built over the past few years.”

“Now we are fully aligned and focused on building out platforms, tools, and machine learning models to help businesses in Africa acquire new customers and get existing customers to do more. We are excited about the next phase of this journey as we innovate for Africa and other emerging markets “, Amit adds.

In the age of data, privacy and digitalization, Terragon has taken this strategic step to lead the market by deepening its investment in software so as to be flexible in customizing services to clients, protecting consumer data with the best in class security and enriching the data and value chain of its partners in the digital age.

“This move has been a long time coming as it will strengthen the company’s technology offerings to its clients. Bizense is a perfect fit for us as we’ve had time to grow our partnership and ascertain compatibility. We are united by a common culture of innovating game-changing mobile solutions – this is the unique differentiator,” Terragon’s CTO and Co-founder, Ayodeji Balogun says.

Terragon helps companies in Africa drive continuous growth by providing intelligent connections to consumers on its mobile web (browsers, apps, sites and more) and non-web channels (mobile operator channels).

In 2015, Terragon entered into a joint venture with Bizense to build its proprietary mobile ad serving technology for Africa. That partnership also led to the development of other marketing technologies including its Adrenaline platform which powers data-driven web and non-web marketing for leading brands and financial services companies on the continent.

Terragon CEO, Elo Umeh had earlier in the year indicated that the company will invest it’s freshly raised $5million in human capital and technology.