HOSTAFRICA snaps up Evoweb hosting to expand in South Africa

Africa’s web hosting market has been quietly shifting for a while now, and the latest deal adds another data point worth sitting with. HOSTAFRICA has picked up the hosting division of Evoweb, a South African business that first opened its doors back in 2008 under the name Web Guru. The company refreshed its identity as Evoweb in January 2025, and within months of that rebrand, its hosting arm has moved to a new owner that is thinking well beyond South Africa’s borders.

What makes this transaction interesting is not just the acquisition itself but how cleanly it separates two businesses that were always pulling in slightly different directions. Evoweb holds onto its web design, development, and WordPress support work, carrying on as an independent specialist in that lane. HOSTAFRICA, on the other hand, takes the hosting customers and the infrastructure, folding them into a platform it has been building across multiple African markets for years. Both sides sharpen their focus rather than stretch it.

That kind of deliberate split is increasingly common among regional technology companies that started out doing everything for everyone and eventually had to choose. Hosting platforms and design agencies have genuinely different rhythms. One runs on uptime, capacity planning, and cost-per-server metrics. The other runs on project pipelines, creative output, and client relationships. Bundling them together can survive the early years, but it creates real friction once either side starts growing fast. Separating them, when done thoughtfully, tends to unlock momentum for both.

HOSTAFRICA CEO Michael Osterloh pointed to South Africa specifically as a market the company wants to deepen its presence in, while also noting the broader continental opportunity the company is chasing. That opportunity is tangible. Across many African markets, reliable and affordable hosting from a provider with genuine local infrastructure still represents something that a meaningful share of small businesses cannot easily access. Regional operators carry advantages in that environment that international giants rarely bother to match.

Evoweb co-founder Martin Bester framed the decision as one that simply lets each business concentrate properly on what it actually does well. His confidence in HOSTAFRICA’s ability to develop the hosting platform further came through clearly, and given the context, that confidence reads as earned rather than diplomatic.

Existing Evoweb hosting customers will hear directly from HOSTAFRICA about transition timelines and support arrangements, which is exactly the kind of communication that builds trust during handovers like this one.