Africa's Talking
Africa's Talking is a Nairobi-based communication API platform founded in 2010 that provides unified SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, Mobile Data, and WhatsApp access across 80+ telcos in 20+ African countries for developers, SMBs, and enterprises.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2010
- HeadquartersNairobi, Kenya
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Africa's Talking does
Africa's Talking is a Nairobi-headquartered communication API platform founded in 2010 by MIT-trained engineers that provides unified programmatic access to mobile network operator infrastructure across 20+ African countries. The company operates an API-first, product-led growth model with six core API products — SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, Mobile Data, and WhatsApp Business — abstracting the complexity of 80+ telco integrations into a single developer-facing interface. Its technology stack is built on containerized microservices running on Amazon Web Services using Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service, following a 2026 migration that delivered 50% infrastructure cost reduction and 3x faster service deployment. The company serves a horizontal market spanning developers building mobile-first applications, SMBs, and enterprises requiring scalable communication for customer engagement, marketing, transactional notifications, and micro-payments via airtime and mobile data distribution.
The business model is primarily usage-based with layered recurring components: developers pay per SMS, per USSD session, per voice minute, or per airtime/data transaction, with volume-tier discounts (Basic, Plus, Premium, Max plans) and country-specific rate cards. Recurring revenue is generated through monthly maintenance fees for dedicated USSD codes (KES 10,000-40,000), voice number subscriptions (KES 2,000/month plus VAT), WhatsApp Business setup (USD 85) and monthly maintenance (USD 50), and premium SMS revenue sharing arrangements. The company maintains 11+ country offices across East, West, and Southern Africa, supports 150,000+ developers and 5,000+ active businesses, and reports a market access reach of 1.3 billion people across the continent. Strategic telco partnerships with Safaricom, MTN, Airtel, Vodacom, Orange, Glo, and Telkom Kenya underpin its distribution moat, while ecosystem extensions include the Echo no-code SMS platform, developer marketplace, and Slack/GitHub community channels.
Africa's Talking firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Africa's Talking
- Legal name
- Africastalking (K) Limited
- Website
- https://africastalking.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2010
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Africa's Talking is a Nairobi-based communication API platform founded in 2010 that provides unified SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, Mobile Data, and WhatsApp access across 80+ telcos in 20+ African countries for developers, SMBs, and enterprises.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Africa's Talking industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS)
- NAICS
- All Other Telecommunications (517810), Wired and Wireless Telecommunications (except Satellite) (5171), Telecommunications (517), Computing Infrastructure Providers, Data Processing, Web Hosting, and Related Services (5182)
- SIC
- Telegraph & Other Message Communications (4822), Services-Telephone Interconnect Systems (7385), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Business Messaging & Team Collaboration (HDAIAHAE)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- SMS/RCS Messaging Platforms (BPAMACAF), Voice Calling (VoIP) Apps (BPAMACAC), Push-to-Talk (PTT) & Walkie-Talkie Apps (BPAMACAI), Multilingual/Translation Communication Apps (BPAMACAJ)
Keywords
Where Africa's Talking is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Nairobi
- HQ country
- Kenya
- HQ region
- Africa
Offices11 records
Markets served
Africa's Talking business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- API Transaction Fees: Usage-based fees charged per API call for SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, and Mobile Data transactions. Pricing varies by country, telco, and volume tier. Developers pay per message, per session, or per minute depending on service type.
- Airtime Discount Revenue: Every Airtime transaction attracts a discount that developers can use to monetize their API calls. Volume-based discount tiers (Basic, Plus, Premium, Max plans) provide increasing discount rates.
- WhatsApp Business Fees: Set up fee (USD 85) and monthly maintenance fee (USD 50) plus per-message costs varying by message type (Marketing, Utility, Authentication, Service) and country.
- USSD Code Services: Monthly maintenance fees for USSD codes (shared and dedicated), session-based charges, and regulatory/application fees for code acquisition.
- Voice Number Services: Set up fees, monthly maintenance fees, per-minute call charges, text-to-speech charges, and CPS (calls per second) pricing for voice services.
- Short Code Services: Dedicated short code setup, monthly maintenance, and per-SMS pricing. Premium SMS revenue sharing with code owners in Kenya (government, telco, and shortcode owner portions).
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Kenya Safaricom Airtime: 4-6% discount tiers |
| Usage-based | Monthly | WhatsApp Business messaging by type and country |
| Subscription | Monthly | Kenya USSD shared codes with tiered monthly maintenance |
| Subscription | Monthly | Voice regular numbers Kenya with setup and monthly fees |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Bulk SMS by country and telco with volume tiers |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Africa's Talking product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Africa's Talking provides a unified communication API platform that abstracts access to 80+ mobile operator networks across 20+ African countries. Developers and businesses use the SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, Mobile Data, and WhatsApp Business APIs to build customer engagement, notification, and mobile payment solutions without needing direct telco partnerships. The platform also offers Echo (code-free SMS) and a developer marketplace to extend reach beyond technical users.
Product overview
Africa's Talking is a communication API platform providing mobile engagement solutions across Africa. The core platform offers six main API products: SMS API, Voice API, USSD API, Airtime API, Mobile Data API, and WhatsApp Business API. These products enable developers to build customer engagement features including bulk messaging, two-way communication, call center functionality, and digital payments via airtime/data distribution. Supporting platforms include Echo (code-free SMS tool) and a developer Marketplace. The architecture is built around simplifying access to telecom infrastructure, allowing developers to integrate communication capabilities without dealing directly with mobile operators across the continent.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Echo: Code-free SMS platform for non-technical users to send SMS messages
- AT Developers
Products and services
- SMS API Programmable SMS API enabling text messaging for notifications, two-factor authentication, and bulk messaging campaigns with delivery reports and real-time analytics. Includes bulk SMS, two-way SMS, and premium SMS capabilities. Targeted at developers and businesses building customer engagement solutions for African markets.
- USSD API Real-time interactive text-based solutions accessible on both feature phones and smartphones without requiring an internet connection. Supports dedicated and shared USSD codes for applications such as mobile banking, surveys, and menu-driven services. Targeted at developers and businesses needing to reach feature phone users across Africa.
- Voice API Web-based programmable voice infrastructure for call conferencing, call transfer, text-to-speech, VOIP capabilities, call recording, SIP trunking, call queuing, IVR, and robocalls. Enables developers and businesses to build customer call centers and inbound/outbound voice services.
- Airtime API API for distributing virtual airtime across mobile service providers in Africa with instant delivery or failure notifications and transaction discounts. Supports micro-payment solutions and incentive programs targeted at developers and businesses needing to disburse small payments to large user groups.
- Mobile Data API API for distributing virtual mobile data bundles across African mobile service providers with instant notifications on delivery or failure and transaction discounts. Used by developers and businesses for micro-payments, user incentives, and reward programs.
- WhatsApp Business API WhatsApp Business API integration enabling interactive customer engagement through rich media, chatbots, templated messages, delivery reports, two-factor authentication, and customer notifications. Targeted at businesses needing WhatsApp-based customer support, marketing, and transactional messaging across African markets.
- Chat API Unified chat API enabling customer support, marketing, promotions, surveys, and feedback collection via WhatsApp with consent management. Targeted at businesses running multi-channel conversational customer engagement.
- Echo - Code-free SMS Platform Code-free SMS platform enabling non-technical business users to send SMS messages without requiring API integration or developer support. Targeted at small and medium businesses needing simple SMS communications without technical setup.
- Developer Marketplace Developer marketplace for discovering and accessing Africa's Talking's APIs and related pre-built solutions and integrations. Targeted at developers seeking ready-made tools and integrations to accelerate development on the platform.
Quantifiable outcome
- 50% reduction in infrastructure costs after AWS migration
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Africa's Talking
Customer profileNamed customers2 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Africa's Talking technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature7 records
Africa's Talking partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core.
- Amazon Web Services (AWS)coreAfrica's Talking completed migration to AWS using the AWS Migration Acceleration Program. The migration to containerized services using Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service resulted in 50% infrastructure cost reduction and 3x faster time-to-market for new services. 80% of production workloads now run on AWS.
- SafaricomcorePrimary telco partner in Kenya providing SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, and Mobile Data connectivity through Africa's Talking APIs.
- Airtel AfricacorePan-African telco partner providing mobile connectivity services across multiple countries including Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Tanzania, Rwanda, and others.
- MTNcoreMajor African telco partner with presence in Uganda, South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Zambia, and other markets.
- VodacomcoreTelco partner providing connectivity in South Africa, Tanzania, DRC, and other markets.
- Glo (Globacom)coreWest African telco partner operating in Nigeria and other countries.
- OrangecoreInternational telco partner with operations across multiple African markets including Ivory Coast, Senegal, and others.
- Telkom KenyacoreKenyan telco partner providing additional connectivity options alongside Safaricom and Airtel.
- Google (Text-to-Speech)coreGoogle TTS engine integrated into Voice API for text-to-speech capabilities. Pricing: Google TTS Standard USD 0.000008/char, Google TTS Wavenet USD 0.000032/char, Google Chirp 3 USD 0.00006/char.
- Meta (WhatsApp)coreWhatsApp Business API integration enabling businesses to engage customers through WhatsApp with rich media, templated messages, and customer notifications.
Scale indicators14 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Africa's Talking competitors and assessment
Company assessmentBroad incumbents
- Twilio: Global CPaaS leader offering SMS, voice, and messaging APIs; while not Africa-specialized, it competes for the same enterprise CPaaS budgets and has begun expanding into African markets, making it a direct comparable for Africa's Talking's API-first communication platform model.
- Sinch: Swedish-listed CPaaS with messaging, voice, and verification APIs; competes head-to-head for developer-focused communication workloads and has acquired multiple messaging providers to deepen emerging-market coverage.
- Vonage (Ericsson): CPaaS unit of Ericsson providing SMS, voice, video, and messaging APIs. A broader incumbent offering overlapping communications platform capabilities as part of a wider telecom infrastructure portfolio.
Direct peers
- Infobip: Croatian-headquartered CPaaS with strong presence across Africa offering SMS, voice, WhatsApp Business, and omnichannel APIs. Closest comparable in terms of full-stack communication APIs, telco aggregation, and emerging-market focus.
- MessageBird (Bird): European-origin omnichannel CPaaS offering SMS, WhatsApp, voice, and Inbox products with telco relationships across multiple continents. Comparable API-first developer model and emerging-markets expansion strategy.
- Clickatell: South Africa-founded CPaaS with deep African telco relationships and a long history of SMS API services for developers and enterprises across the continent. Highly comparable on product offering and African market focus.
- CM.com: European conversational commerce and CPaaS provider offering SMS, WhatsApp Business, voice, and payment APIs. Comparable on multi-channel communication API platform serving global enterprise customers.
- Plivo: US-based CPaaS offering SMS, voice, and WhatsApp APIs with global telco coverage. Closely comparable on developer-focused, API-first GTM and usage-based pricing model.
- Termii: Nigeria-based communication API platform focused on African markets, providing SMS, voice, OTP, and WhatsApp APIs. Direct regional competitor targeting similar developers and enterprises across Nigeria and other West African countries.
- Beem Africa: African SMS and messaging aggregator offering bulk SMS, two-way messaging, and short code services across multiple African countries. Direct competitor on SMS API aggregation and developer-oriented delivery model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Africa's Talking social profiles
Digital presenceAfrica's Talking financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Africa's Talking leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Africa's Talking funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Africa's Talking M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments1 record
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Africa's Talking
What does Africa's Talking do?
Africa's Talking provides a unified communication API platform that abstracts access to 80+ mobile operator networks across 20+ African countries. Developers and businesses use the SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, Mobile Data, and WhatsApp Business APIs to build customer engagement, notification, and mobile payment solutions without needing direct telco partnerships. The platform also offers Echo (code-free SMS) and a developer marketplace to extend reach beyond technical users.
Is Africa's Talking a public or private company?
Africa's Talking is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Africa's Talking founded?
Africa's Talking was founded in 2010. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Africa's Talking based?
Africa's Talking is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, in the Africa region.
How does Africa's Talking make money?
Six revenue lines are on record. API Transaction Fees are the primary driver. The others are airtime Discount Revenue, whatsApp Business Fees, USSD Code Services, voice Number Services and short Code Services.
Who are Africa's Talking's main competitors?
Broad incumbents on record are Twilio, Sinch and Vonage (Ericsson). Direct peers are Infobip, MessageBird (Bird), Clickatell, CM.com, Plivo, Termii and Beem Africa.
Does Africa's Talking have an API?
Yes. Africa's Talking provides a suite of communication APIs enabling developers to integrate SMS, USSD, Voice, Airtime, Mobile Data, and WhatsApp messaging into their applications. The platform offers programmatic access to telecom infrastructure across African mobile operators. SDKs are available for multiple languages, with Python example provided in documentation. Developers access services via API keys through the Dashboard. Developer documentation is at developers.africastalking.com.
What industry is Africa's Talking in?
Africa's Talking's product category is Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS). Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAIAHAE, Business Messaging & Team Collaboration, with a secondary code of BPAMACAF, SMS/RCS Messaging Platforms. Its NAICS code is 517810 and its SIC code is 4822.