New academy to support African start-up founders scale

Early-stage start-ups in Africa that have already raised $2 million can now sign up for a brand-new academy launched by DAI Magister, a boutique investment bank with an appetite for the climate, fintech, tech-enabled commerce and communications sectors.

The DAI Magister Academy is described as a free service for companies who are looking to raise a larger round. It must, however, be below the bank’s traditional $30 million round size focus.

The academy has already provided this service successfully to its first cohort of ten African start-ups and is now rolling out more broadly across the African ecosystem and eventually into other emerging markets such as the Middle-East, North Africa, and Pakistan. In addition, the plan is to provide this service to companies in Europe focused on climate tech, where DAI Magister has deep expertise.

Victor Basta, co-head of DAI Magister Ltd, says, “We have developed this individualised programme to stand apart from the traditional and more generic set of services generally offered to early-stage companies.  For us the primary focus is to provide free, tailored advice to each specific company.

“This means a far more responsive and knowledgeable approach based on local market experience. To date we have run ten companies through the academy from across Africa and the response has been terrific.

“Our objective is to help founders and start-ups to focus on what that company needs to improve, highlight and/or get right before it raises a larger round.  Founders get one go at this often challenging milestone, so it is imperative they get the basics right to secure a successful next round of fundraising.”

The DAI Magister Academy focuses on three core areas: reviewing and challenging equity stories; reviewing target investor lists and suggesting additional potential investors; and reviewing the company’s financial model and suggesting improvements where necessary.

Individualised support is provided to each company in the academy, spending time with the team to understand the business and its focus, as well as analyse how it performs against the three core metrics. The output is a specific customised confidential feedback report.

Basta says, “For those founders and companies with huge ambition, the DAI Magister Academy is a resource we would urge them to take advantage of.  This service is entirely free with the work being done by the same professionals who advise larger companies through significant fundraises.  The teams therefore have the knowledge and experience of knowing what best-in-class looks like when an ambitious business looks to raise $30 million and eventually much more.”

From New York and London to Nairobi, DAI Magister support CEOs and their investors by identifying and curating the right relationships to help grow, scale, and manage their business.

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