The untold story of Africa’s newest unicorn, Maser Group

Electronics manufacturer, Maser Group, raked in an impressive $500 million in hybrid equity capital in 2022, propelling its post-money valuation to much-coveted billion-dollar unicorn status.

Until about six years ago, Africa had no unicorn startups, meaning startups valued at over one billion dollars. Today, the continent is home to more than eight startups worth over $1.5 billion.

Africa’s unicorn landscape had remained fallow since Egypt’s fintech startup MNT-Halan and Uganda’s Chipper Cash achieved a similar feat, through a Series C extension led by FTX. Maser Group is the latest on this list.

Its cutting-edge quality of devices has enabled it to serve thousands of customers across Africa, providing them with the most affordable electronic services that were previously unavailable.

Maser, a dynamic start-up that is driven by technological innovation and a passion to make high-quality products that are affordable and accessible to all, runs on the ambition to become a global leader in the affordable consumer electronics segment.

The company’s principal areas of business involve consumer products manufacturing that includes; consumer electronics, audio and video equipment, appliances, and telecommunications equipment among others. Its recent attainment of the much sought-after Unicorn status has not come as a surprise.

In recent years, the brand reached a volume of more than 600,000 units of LED TV, making it the first brand to sell the highest number of units in Africa as per various mainstream media houses across countries and currently crossed more than 2 million units in Smart TVs alone.

Maser enjoys a huge market share in all the souks where it has a presence for offering low-cost segments – and also beating Chinese rivals including Hisense and TCL and also rubbing shoulders with giants Samsung, Sony, and LG.

Between the previous four years of its African market expansion launch, Maser under the stewardship of Prateek Suri, founder and CEO has expanded its offerings to encompass affordable LED TVs, including 4k Smart TVs, with top-notch specifications and sold through leading e-commerce platforms.

The product portfolio also spans LED televisions, display televisions for outdoor use, home theatre systems, soundbars, and power banks. With strong sales and sustained growth, the company recently entered an ambitious phase of expansion into the larger African market, starting with Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Malawi, Gambia, and other countries in northern Africa. 

Maser is also eying other new markets including Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, and other areas. Recent financial figures indicate that the firm has invested up to $300 million in LED TVs, aircon, and washing machines from sales in the Middle East, and Africa.

African countries like Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia will be beneficiaries of a new UNICEF and Airtel African partnership that aims to champion digital education advocacy to reform policies and frameworks.

This will be done through data insights and the promotion of tools and platforms, increase access to educational content through access without the need for data (zero-rating) learning platforms, including learning passport and investing in school connectivity to fast-track young people’s access to educational resources and opportunities where Airtel Uganda will provide free access to the internet for schools that have been identified.

This is expected to raise the demand for affordable educational television sets in all the beneficiary countries, a Ugandan top economist said.
Suri, a respected young Indian business leader in the tech world, having founded and steered Maser, says his firm has witnessed strong demand for smart TVs from retail consumers as people now prefer streaming content from digital platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Suri, an Indian-born mechanical engineer, started his Maser brand in UAE, growing the business in leaps and bounds to expand to Africa where it is gradually establishing its foot-hold.

“Over the years, Maser has become a leading player in the re-distribution business of high-quality and low-cost electronic products. Africa is one of our biggest markets, and after receiving funding from a British private equity firm and a Venture Debt of 150 Million USD from Innovation Group Far East, we have significantly ramped up our business in the continent through the introduction of new products,” Forbes Africa quoted Suri as saying of the company’s all-encompassing approach.