LekkeSlaap, South Africa’s largest locally owned online accommodation booking platform, has been acquired by a consortium of South African investors that includes Investec and the family offices of two of the country’s most prominent bankers, GT Ferreira and Laurie Dippenaar. The deal marks the exit of co-founders Jonathan Womersley and Marcel van de Ghinste after 17 years and values the platform at an undisclosed sum.
The acquiring consortium is co-led by Bellair Road Investment Partners, a Cape Town-based private equity firm, and Janic Capital, the Dippenaar family’s investment vehicle led by Adriaan Dippenaar. Investec, the Ferreira Family Office and the Moolman Family Office, the investment vehicle of property developers the Moolman Group, have invested alongside them. The existing executive team, led by CEO Frans Joubert, has also invested and will continue to run the business.
From Garage to Market Leader
Womersley and Van de Ghinste met while studying at the University of Cape Town in 2001. They launched their first online booking platform, TravelGround.com, from a garage in 2009 with R12,000 in startup capital. The site listed 300 establishments at launch. In 2013, they launched LekkeSlaap — a shortened form of the Afrikaans phrase for “sleep well” — as South Africa’s first Afrikaans leisure accommodation booking platform.
The LekkeSlaap brand proved so successful that it eventually replaced TravelGround.com as the company’s primary platform. The group now lists more than 40,000 properties across Southern Africa and has managed bookings for over nine million guests since inception. The platform has been named South Africa’s Leading Online Travel Agency at the World Travel Awards for three consecutive years and has weathered the entry of global short-term rental giant Airbnb into the local market in 2015.
Investor Profiles
The deal brings together a group of investors with deep roots in South African financial services and property. GT Ferreira and Laurie Dippenaar co-founded Rand Merchant Bank in 1977 alongside Pat Goss, and later built FirstRand into one of Africa’s largest financial services groups by market capitalisation. Janic Capital, led by Adriaan Dippenaar, is a permanent capital vehicle that invests for the long term in high-growth businesses.
Bellair Road Investment Partners, founded in 2019 by Handre Daffue and Marcel Boezaart, focuses on long-term growth investments and has a portfolio that includes Montego Pet Nutrition, Econofoods and Freedom of Movement. Investec, founded in Johannesburg in 1974, is a dual-listed specialist bank and wealth manager. The Moolman family has been active in South African property development since 1967 and owns approximately 1.2 million square metres of commercial property.
New Leadership
The consortium has strengthened LekkeSlaap’s board with two appointments. Herman Bosman, chairman of OUTsurance Group and Fortress Real Estate, and former CEO of RMB Holdings, has been named chairman. Robert Paddock, co-founder of online education company GetSmarter, which was acquired by Nasdaq-listed 2U in 2017, has joined as a director. Both Bosman, through his investment vehicle Atelier Partners, and Paddock have invested alongside the consortium.
“LekkeSlaap is a great example of what South African entrepreneurs can build when they combine a strong customer proposition with persistence and ambition,” Bosman said. “I am excited to join LekkeSlaap as chairman and to guide and support Frans, the management team, and fellow shareholders as LekkeSlaap enters its next phase of growth”.
Strategic Rationale
The acquisition keeps the platform in South African ownership and positions it for expansion across Southern Africa. Joubert said the company plans to invest “more deeply in technology and localisation, and create even better experiences for our guests and hosts”. The South African online travel market was valued at approximately $2.8 billion in 2025 and is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.15% to reach $6.3 billion by 2034, according to IMARC Group.
LekkeSlaap competes directly with Airbnb, which entered the South African market in 2015 and has become the fastest-growing platform by revenue share. Domestic platforms collectively account for roughly 10% of commission revenues in the market, with Tripco — LekkeSlaap’s parent company — being the largest of the local players. Approximately 80% of the 33,000-plus properties listed on the platform are small businesses, according to data from short-term rental software provider Guesty.
The transaction was announced on 8 October 2026.