IMImobile is buying S. African mobile marketing firm Archer Digital for $5.2m (£3.6m), with a deferred consideration payment of up to $0.4m payable 90 days after completion. Archer’s products will be integrated and offered as part of IMImobile’s international portfolio of enterprise mobile engagement solutions.

Archer has delivered consumer communications including personalised mobile statements, mobile marketing and customer service messaging on behalf of leading banks, utilities and government for the past 10 years. IMI said its product suite is “highly complementary” to its own offering, and that the acquisition offers significant opportunities to leverage its African mobile operator and operational footprint to expand into the wider African enterprise market.

Archer is based in Johannesburg, S. Africa and employs over 50 staff. Its revenues have grown at a CAGR of 26 per cent over the last four years. Revenue and adjusted profit after tax of ZAR117m (£5.5m) and ZAR11m respectively, were reported for the year ending 31 December 2014. At 31 December 2014, Archer had net assets of £1.2m.

“We see tremendous opportunities in Africa for enterprises to use mobile as a communication channel driven by the explosion of mobile devices and better networks, as well as the limitations of the physical infrastructure,” said IMImobile CEO, Jay Patel. “Archer has been successfully working with leading blue chip clients over many years and we believe that, combined with IMImobile’s software and solutions, we will be able to leverage the existing client relationships and extensive experience of the Archer team to seize this great opportunity.”

Over the next seven years, mobile operators are planning to spend $100bn in expanding their coverage and capacity across sub-Saharan Africa, and smartphone penetration is expected to grow from 72m in 2013 to 525m in 2020 according to the GSMA.

As there is also limited physical infrastructure across Africa, the addressable market for mobile engagement solutions will become more substantial as large enterprises embrace mobile as the major channel for customer communication.