LekkeSlaap, the South African accommodation booking platform that competes with Airbnb and Booking(dot)com, has been sold to a consortium of local investors. The buyers include the Dippenaar family's Janic Capital, the family office of FirstRand co-founder GT Ferreira, the Moolman Family Office and Investec, with Bellair Road Investment Partners and Janic Capital co-leading.

Co-founders Jonathan Womersley and Marcel van de Ghinste have exited, along with other long-standing shareholders. The price was not disclosed.

The business started as a travel tech startup in a garage in 2009, and LekkeSlaap itself launched in 2013. It now lists more than 40,000 properties across Southern Africa and says it has served over nine million guests. The deal covers all of Tripco, LekkeSlaap's parent company.

Chief executive Frans Joubert and the executive team have invested alongside the new owners and will keep running the business. Two well-known business figures join the board, both as investors. Herman Bosman, chairman of the Outsurance Group and Fortress Real Estate and former chief executive of RMB Holdings, becomes chairman.

Rob Paddock, co-founder of online education company GetSmarter, which sold to US-listed 2U for about R1.4 billion in 2017, joins as a director.

"After so many years, finding new owners who share our culture, values and vision for the business matters enormously to us," Womersley said. Joubert says the company will use the backing to expand further across Southern Africa and invest more in technology and localisation.

TechCentral reported the deal and confirmed the Ferreira family office's involvement with LekkeSlaap directly. Bosman called LekkeSlaap a great example of what South African entrepreneurs can build when they combine a strong customer proposition with persistence and ambition. TechCentral's 2017 coverage of the GetSmarter sale is a reminder of what Paddock, one of the new directors, has built and sold before.

The detail that stands out is who bought it. A South African company built to compete with Airbnb and Booking(dot)com did not sell to one of them or to a foreign rival. It sold to South African family offices and a local bank, which suggests they see a lasting place for a homegrown platform in a market the global giants dominate.

LekkeSlaap's advantage is that it knows local travellers and local hosts, from small guest houses to self-catering cottages, better than a global platform tuned for everywhere at once. That matters as Airbnb adds AI search and new services mostly for the US first. For founders, it is also an exit worth noting. A company started in a garage in 2009 has returned money to its founders and early shareholders, adding to the evidence that South African tech exits do happen, and that patient local capital is one route to them.

You might also like our piece on SA tourist arrivals and what visitors spend, Uber buying ezCater after years of slow building, and the Visit Gauteng app relaunch.

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