South African telecoms operator Vodacom, via its investment arm Vodacom Ventures, has increased its stake in Internet of Things (IoT) player XLink Communications for an undisclosed sum, TechFinancials reports. Vodacom was cited as saying in a press release to investors: ‘In June we increased our shareholding in XLink to 100%. This will enable us to execute across the full IoT value chain by developing new IoT verticals, whilst using XLink as managed services provider.’
XLink claims to manage machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions for more than 68,000 businesses in Africa, facilitating 35 million M2M connections. Vodacom acquired a 35% stake in XLink in 2007 and later upped its shareholding to 74% of the company. Pan African Equity Fund 1, which was a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) partner of XLink, held the remaining 26% of the business.