A Stockport technology company specialising in data centre and AI infrastructure has secured a £1.8m export contract in Kenya with backing from the UK government.
Vespertec won the deal to supply high-performance hardware and systems to Kenyan cloud services firm Atlancis, supported by UK Export Finance (UKEF), the government’s export credit agency.
UKEF provided a Standard Buyer Loan Guarantee (SBLG) to Apple Bank on behalf of Atlancis. The loan was arranged by Apple Bank’s UK servicer, AF Capital, enabling Atlancis to purchase infrastructure from the Greater Manchester firm.
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The agreement reflects growing international demand for UK expertise in data centre and cloud infrastructure, particularly as countries invest in digital resilience and sovereign cloud services.
For Vespertec, the contract builds on an existing relationship with Atlancis and marks another step in the company’s international expansion. It also follows an earlier Kenyan order, reinforcing its position as a partner on complex infrastructure projects beyond Europe.
The project has supported continued growth at the company’s Stockport operations and across its UK supply chain, with a high proportion of the equipment designed, built or integrated in the UK.
It comes during a period of rapid expansion for Vespertec, which more than doubled its turnover in the financial year ending 2025 and was recognised in the Sunday Times Top 100 fastest-growing private companies.
The company is also one of a select number of NVIDIA Elite partners and won Nvidia’s 2025 Northern Europe Star Performer award, as demand for data centre and AI infrastructure accelerates globally.
Chris Bryant, Minister of State for Trade, said: “Vespertec’s success in Kenya is exactly the kind of British export story we want to see more of. As global demand for AI and data centre infrastructure accelerates, we’re making sure innovative UK businesses have the tools they need to seize those opportunities and win contracts abroad.”
Tim Reid, CEO at UK Export Finance, added: “This deal shows how UK expertise in AI and data centres is in demand across Africa, and how government-backed finance can help innovative British companies like Vespertec to compete and win on the global stage.”
Steve Evans, Director of Finance at Vespertec, said demand for data centre and cloud infrastructure is growing rapidly across Africa. “This project reflects the trust international partners place in UK engineering and delivery capability,” he said. “Support from UK Export Finance has helped us pursue opportunities of this scale and complexity, and to build on relationships that have developed over time.”
Daniel Njuguna, Co-founder and CEO at Atlancis Technologies, added: “Thanks to the loan secured with UKEF’s guarantee, we are able to procure products and services from a trusted, reliable, first-class UK partner. We have a long-term strategic partnership with Vespertec, and their optimum designs and services have played an important part in our present success, delivering private and public sovereign cloud services to African Telcos, FSI and Service Providers.”
Andrew Woolfson, Partner at AF Capital, said: “AF Capital remains committed to supporting the UKEF SBLG programme. With the benefit of the UKEF guarantee, we are able to continue providing funding to Vespertec and Atlancis, ensuring that Atlancis can keep buying British – accessing high-quality products from a trusted UK supplier on affordable financing terms.”
The deal also marks another milestone in Vespertec’s collaboration with UKEF, following earlier support that helped the company enter African markets for the first time in 2022.
Over the last financial year, UKEF provided a record £14.5bn in new financing, helping more than 667 UK companies export and grow while supporting up to 70,000 jobs.
