Truecaller opens Nairobi office with eye on expansion

A screen grab of Truecaller from the Google Play store. PHOTO | LYNETTE MUKAMI | NMG

What you need to know:

  • The app popular with helping identify unknown phone numbers, has garnered six million users in Kenya.
  • In Africa, Truecaller has an estimated 50 million users.
  • Truecaller is blocking and filtering out more than 4.4 million calls, and 14 million spam SMS on a monthly basis in the country.

Swedish caller ID firm Truecaller has set up its first Africa office and headquarters for the region in Kenya.

The software application, popular with helping identify unknown phone numbers, has garnered six million users in the country to date.

“Over the years, Kenya has consistently been a top market for us, with some of our highest usage globally, which is why it made sense for us to set up a strategic headquarters in Nairobi. With this positive momentum of growth, we look forward to bringing new, innovative and localized services and offerings, and expand our presence and start engaging more deeply with the tech eco-system,” said the firm's director of partnerships, Africa, Zakaria Hersi on Wednesday.

Scams, spam

Last year, the app released statistics indicating that Truecaller is blocking and filtering out more than 4.4 million calls and 14 million spam SMS's on a monthly basis in the country.

Of the calls, 91 per cent were flagged as scams, 4 per cent as nuisance and 5 per cent were from financial services.

In Africa, Truecaller has an estimated 50 million users with Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa being named as key markets.

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