Financial technology (fintech) group Capital Appreciation has completed the R131.2-million acquisition of Dariel Solutions, the parent company of South African information technology (IT) software services provider Dariel Software.  

Capital Appreciation offers technology-based goods and services to businesses in a variety of industries, with a particular emphasis on the financial services industry, while Dariel is an engineering-focused IT architecture and software development company focused on large, mission-critical and complex business applications.

With a 22-year record of building well-architected systems, Dariel has amassed clients in fintech, banking and insurance, healthcare, telecommunications, hospitality, mining and manufacturing. 

Dariel’s client solutions include, among others, foreign exchange (FX) platforms, hospital administration systems, know-your-client and single-customer-view systems for some of South Africa’s foremost enterprises, as well as South Africa’s largest hotel management platform.

Dariel’s solutions are strongly cloud-based, with over 80% of its revenue related to the cloud in some form and with more than 110 certifications in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Azure.   

Dariel will form part of Capital Appreciation’s Software division. 

The three Dariel founders Malcolm Rabson, Gregory Vercellotti and Wayne Yan will remain in the business and will continue to steer the Dariel team.

“Being part of a listed company with a strong balance sheet will provide growth capital and the financial firepower to pursue much larger projects, as well as exciting opportunities to access international markets,” state Rabson, Vercellotti and Yan.

“It will also grant Dariel ready access to Capital Appreciation’s specialised cloud, artificial intelligence, machine learning and expert user experience or user interface capabilities, opening the scope for continued innovation and expansion of Dariel’s products and services,” they add. 

“Capital Appreciation is delighted to welcome the talented team from Dariel to our Software group as we join forces to innovate in the software development arena,” says Capital Appreciation Software division head and executive director Michael Shapiro.

“Collectively, we share a passion for problem-solving and emerging technology, and we are confident that we will create significant value for our customers, employees, partners, investors and other stakeholders.”

The addition of a complementary skill set of 180 talented and experienced staff with a highly experienced and entrepreneurial management team will allow Capital Appreciation to accelerate its participation in the considerable growth opportunities available to the group.

Substantial synergistic and collaboration opportunities also exist among the businesses, which the group will now begin to explore.