08 September 2025
iXAfrica has announced the completion of a financing deal to expand its Nairobi facility by an additional 20 megawatts.
South African lender Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) will provide a multi-tranche funding package, though the total amount has not been disclosed. The capital will be directed toward increasing the capacity of the existing NBOX1 data centre, which currently offers a total capacity of approximately 22.5MW, though sources differ on the exact figures.
The NBOX1 data centre, situated on Mombasa Road in Nairobi, spans 17,300 square meters and features adiabatic cooling technology. It provides over 6,600 square meters of colocation space and has been under development since 2021. The company’s recent announcement indicates that the initial phase of the expansion will add roughly 2.25MW of capacity, although previous reports and the company's website suggest this figure could be closer to 4.5MW.
The Nairobi campus is built on land that was formerly part of a Schneider Electric complex. The project is supported by a $50 million investment from Helios, and iXAfrica has also entered into an agreement with Tilsi Developments to acquire 11 acres of land for a second data centre campus in Nairobi.
RMB, a division of FirstRand Bank Limited, has a history of financing data infrastructure projects across Africa, including investments in WIOCC’s Open Access Data Centres and Africa Data Centres owned by Cassava Technologies. This latest funding round underscores the growing confidence in Kenya’s data centre sector and iXAfrica’s strategic expansion plans.
