Hlayisani Capital backs South African outdoor media company
Private equity and venture capital firm Hlayisani Capital has acquired a minority stake in Tractor Media Holdings, one of South Africa’s leading digital outdoor media owners. These funds will be channelled towards the acceleration of Tractor’s aggressive digital out of home (DOOH) growth strategy; allowing for the acquisition of key sites, new portfolios as well as investment in advanced and cutting-edge technologies.
Explains Simon Wall, group CEO at Tractor Media Holdings: “We believe in growth, we believe in transformation and we believe that the future of our industry lies in technology and innovation.”
With the Hlayisani Growth Fund investing in technology-enabled businesses with significant growth potential, Wall says that the deal made sense for both parties: “DOOH is at an inflection point; the lines between online and offline are blurring and our goal is to integrate these two mediums into one seamless client value proposition. This move will allow us to leverage the exponential growth that lies ahead in the realm of DOOH, expanding our own business in the process.”
Tractor Media Holdings’ current management team will remain unchanged in the initial stages of this transaction. It has committed to fully transforming its business in the future and will welcome an additional two new members from the Hlayisani Venture Fund, who will assist in driving this agenda of transformation.
Tractor is the first investment in Hlayisani’s third venture capital fund. Mathew Palin, partner at Hlayisani Capital, adds: “Tractor presents a unique investment opportunity for our venture fund as it combines traditional media with advanced technologies, as part of a large and growing outdoor market. The company has an exceptional track record and an impressive team, and through our investment and strategic support we believe we will help Tractor achieve its growth ambitions.”