Fund worth $25-million launches for early-stage African tech startups

Savannah Fund, a technology seed fund focused on investing in early-stage startups across sub-Saharan Africa has announced the launch of a $25-million fund. 

The investment funding secured has been led by The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group with participation from the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (WeFi), Tim Draper of Draper Associates, Visa Forsten, co-founder of Supercell and Senegal-based Venture studios UMA also participated.

Savannah Fund has launched an investment fund worth $25-million

Kevin Njiraini, IFC Regional Director for Southern Africa and Nigeria comments on the importance of investing in African early-stage startups and their contribution to the economy.

“Early-stage funding is vital to enable more of Africa’s emerging and growing tech founders to grow their business and fuel the transformation of Africa’s Internet economy. By partnering with Savannah Fund, we can help more entrepreneurs to access funding,” 

The fund is focused on investing in early-stage sub-Saharan startups founded by women along with disruptive companies in high-growth sectors. 

Mbwana Alliy, founder and managing partners at Savannah Fund provides further insight into the new fund.

“Savannah Fund II will continue its long-term mission to partner with ambitious founders, building startups that will scale across Africa. Entrepreneurs in Residence, especially female founders, are a key part of our investment strategy. We’re proud to partner with WeFi to further expand and encourage female founders on the continent.” 

It will provide Seed to Series A investments in core markets located in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. In addition, the fund plans to look into emerging hubs in Rwanda, Ethiopia, Uganda, East Africa, the Ivory Coast, and Ghana. 

Specific sectors that the fund will be investing in include fintech, education, logistics, eCommerce, Saas, healthcare, and agtech. 

In an official press release, Savannah Fund provides insight into the startups it has added to its portfolio with the new fund.

“As part of this second fund formation, Mbwana and Paul warehoused 7 startups into this latest Fund’s portfolio; these include Aerobotics from South Africa in the Agtech space, IoT and Analytics startup Safi, Moringa School – both got started in Kenya. Flex.club, subscription mobility startup operating in South Africa and Mexico. More recently, we backed pre-seed rounds of Orbit Health in Ethiopia and Cloud kitchen company Ando Foods in Kenya.”

Savannah Fund

Launching in 2012 and founded by Mbwana Alliy and Paul Bragiel, Savannah Fund is a sub-Saharan Africa-focused tech venture capital firm.

According to the VC, it has invested in 31 companies across seven countries in Africa.

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Featured image: tebogo losaba via Unsplash