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Business Reporter

Liquid Intelligent Technologies, a leading connectivity, innovation and hi-tech company owned by billionaire Strive Masiyiwa, has acquired Cairo-based cloud and cybersecurity services provider, Cysiv MEA.

Cysiv MEA has been servicing some of Egypt’s largest companies in the financial services and telecom sectors since it was founded in 2008, and the acquisition provides Liquid Intelligent Technologies with a solid foundation to expand its presence in the region.

This comes after Liquid recently acquired Cysiv MEA following their August 2022 acquisition of Telrad, an Israeli-based technology company with a significant presence in 13 countries spanning the Middle East, South America, the United States, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Sherif Shaltout, vice president of operations, Cysiv MEA, said, “We are now in an even stronger position to enable our enterprise customers in Egypt and the MENA region to accelerate their digital transformation whilst at the same time acquiring more sophisticated tools to deal with ever-increasing threats through our expanded cloud and cyber security services portfolio.”

David  Behr, chief executive officer of Liquid C2, added, “Liquid recognises the critical role Cysiv MEA has been playing in the cloud and cyber security industry in Egypt and the region. 

Our main task as a group is to support them in bringing more cyber security tools for our customers as they face an increasingly hostile global threat environment from cybercriminals and nation-state sponsored attackers. This will ensure that their business is protected whilst also meeting the demands for global compliance requirements.”

Liquid’s acquisition of Cysiv MEA will be a major boon for its portfolio in Africa, enabling the company to integrate Cysiv MEA into Liquid C2, thereby aligning it with its global cloud and cybersecurity identity.

Leveraging the rich local tech talent pool, Liquid plans to expand its unit Liquid C2 operations in Egypt, making it the hub for the entire MENA region.

The move to integrate Cysiv MEA into Liquid C2, a subsidiary of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, follows the launch of the Cybersecurity Fusion Center (CSFC) in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city. It seeks to provide Kenyan customers with timely access to intelligence-driven alerts and advisory services to help mitigate potential security threats, making it the first of its kind in Kenya and the second in Africa.

After investing more than US$1,5 billion in network infrastructure to become the first provider of Dataport services in Africa, Liquid, a subsidiary of Cassava Technologies, a pan-African technology company founded by Masiyiwa, has established itself as a market leader in connectivity, innovation, and intelligent technology.

Three weeks ago, Microsoft teamed up with Liquid to deliver high-speed Internet to 20 million under-served people in Africa by 2025.

The partnership will leverage Microsoft’s Airband initiative to target regions such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, and Zambia, with the goal of bridging the digital divide and delivering high-speed Internet connectivity to previously unconnected communities