M-KOPA Acquires KilpiTek for $8M in a Powerful Tech Deal

M-KOPA Acquires KilpiTek for $8M in a Powerful Tech Deal

Quick Reads

• M-KOPA acquires KilpiTek Oy, a Finnish device-locking company for USD 8 million, about KES 1.04 billion.
• The group took control on 26 March 2026 by buying 100% of KilpiTek’s voting equity.
• Device locking lets M-KOPA restrict phones when customers run out of payment credit.
• One third of the price is cash, and the rest includes M-KOPA shares and deferred pay.
• M-KOPA has not yet split the price between assets and goodwill.

M-KOPA acquires KilpiTek, a Finnish software company that provides device locking, in a deal worth USD 8 million. That equals about KES 1.04 billion. M-KOPA sells smartphones and electric motorbikes on credit in Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria, Ghana and South Africa. The group took control on 26 March 2026 by buying 100% of KilpiTek’s voting equity. M-KOPA disclosed the deal in accounts it filed at Companies House on 5 October 2026. Tech-ish reported the details.

Device locking decides whether customers can keep using phones they are still paying for. On M-KOPA’s installment plans, software restricts access when payment credit runs out. Locking also helps M-KOPA recover its money. When the group estimates its loan losses, it assumes locking phones will recover some of that money. The purchase therefore gives M-KOPA tighter control over that part of its financing business.

M-KOPA acquires KilpiTek mainly to bring device locking in-house. The group also wants a firmer hold on its technology platform. In addition, the deal supports its wider phone sourcing strategy. KilpiTek lists device locking, software development and device management among its services. Its head office sits in Tampere, Finland.

Notably, M-KOPA already works with other locking providers. Samsung’s Knox software locked its Galaxy A10s phones in 2020 when customers missed daily installments. HMD, the Finnish maker of Nokia-branded phones, also names M-KOPA as a customer of its Softlock service. Owning KilpiTek therefore suggests M-KOPA wants more control over locking on the handsets it buys, whoever makes them.

The price mixes cash and M-KOPA ordinary shares. The cash part is USD 2,666,702, about KES 345.49 million, which is a third of the total. The remaining USD 5,333,298 sits under equity instrument, deferred consideration and remuneration. The accounts do not say how much falls into each category. As a result, some of that amount may depend on KilpiTek’s staff staying on.

Meanwhile, M-KOPA has not finished allocating the purchase price to the assets and liabilities it acquired. The board approved the accounts on 30 June 2026 before completing that split. The split will show how much of the USD 8 million paid for KilpiTek’s software and other assets. It will also reveal how much M-KOPA paid as goodwill, the premium on top of those assets. That breakdown should appear in M-KOPA’s 2026 accounts.