South African accommodation and hospitality platform LekkeSlaap has been acquired by a consortium of leading local investors, with its co-founders exiting the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The acquiring consortium is co-led by South African investment firms Bellair Road Investment Partners and Janic Capital, alongside the Ferreira Family Office, the Moolman Family Office and Investec. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bellair Road Investment Partners focuses on long-term growth investments, with an investment track record that includes Montego Pet Nutrition, Econofoods, Freedom of Movement and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Janic Capital is the Dippenaar family’s investment vehicle, led by Adriaan Dippenaar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PSG Capital and ENS supported the transaction and advised the sellers, while Werksmans, Deloitte and Scrums.com advised the acquiring consortium, the group said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It noted that its executive management team has also invested alongside the consortium and will continue to lead the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, LekkeSlaap co-founders Jonathan Womersley and Marcel van de Ghinste, alongside other long-standing shareholders, will be exiting the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The platform started as a garage-based travel tech startup in 2009 and ultimately grew into one of South Africa’s most recognisable online travel brands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
LekkeSlaap launched in 2013 as South Africa\u2019s first Afrikaans leisure accommodation booking platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Initially designed for Afrikaans users, the platform quickly evolved to attract both local and international English-speaking visitors and now offers bilingual services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the group, it now features more than 40,000 properties throughout Southern Africa and has served over 9 million guests since its inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite Airbnb\u2019s 2015 entry into the local market, which posed a significant challenge to traditional accommodation platforms, LekkeSlaap remains one of South Africa\u2019s largest accommodation platforms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Users and accommodation hosts frequently commend the platform for its competitive pricing, extensive selection of accommodations, high-quality customer support, and reasonable commission structure.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The company has also been recognised as South Africa\u2019s Leading Online Travel Agency at the World Travel Awards for the last three consecutive years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo see LekkeSlaap grow from a small startup into a brand used and loved by millions of South Africans has been incredibly rewarding,\u201d said Womersley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the group, the acquisition keeps the company in South African hands while positioning it for further growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The group said its ambitions are to expand further across Southern Africa, invest more in technology and localisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LekkeSlaap will continue to be led by CEO Frans Joubert and the existing executive team, ensuring continuity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“To support the executive team through this next growth phase, LekkeSlaap has strengthened its board by appointing two prominent South African business leaders known for investing in and scaling high-growth companies alongside members of the investment consortium,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Corporate veteran and Chairman of the OUTsurance Group and Fortress Real Estate, and former CEO of RMB Holdings and RMI Holdings, Herman Bosman, has been appointed Chairman of LekkeSlaap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Robert Paddock, a prominent edtech entrepreneur and co-founder of GetSmarter and Valenture Institute has also joined the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Both Herman, through Atelier Partners, and Robert have also invested alongside the new investors,” the group said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South African accommodation and hospitality platform LekkeSlaap has been acquired by a consortium of leading local investors, with its co-founders exiting the business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":878885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2108104621596033237","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2230210191132713","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18339809020285259","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[15015],"class_list":["post-878866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-lekkeslaap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878866"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":878886,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878866\/revisions\/878886"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}