Business
Global Founders Capital launches new fund to benefit East Africa’s tech entrepreneurs
App developers at work in Nairobi, Kenya. PHOTO/File
East Africa’s tech entreprenuers have a new opportunity for fundraising following the launch of a US$196 million fund by Global Founders Capital, a global technology fund, which is considering investments in Africa.
The new fund joins other funds — Savannah Fund, DEMO Africa Investor Roundtable and 88mph — which are focused on technology enterprises and finance tech entreprenuers in East Africa.
The fund will target companies at all stages of growth, including early stage commitments but will not consider start-ups.
“The investment team will particularly seek to back companies offering technologies that can be scaled globally,” said the fund in a statement.
Kenya is considered a technology innovation hub in the east and central African region with applications developed locally being replicated elsewhere on the continent, putting its tech entreprenuers in pole position to benefit from the new fund.
“We are considering investments in Africa, and are stage agnostic, meaning we can invest early to late stage,” said Fabian Siegel, partner at Global Founders Capital.
“We like to see a business that has straight forward unit economics and a clear path to growth and profitability. We however do not invest in companies prior to their launch.”
Seigel is Global Founders Capital’s founding partner with Oliver Samwer and Marc Samwer. The Samwer brothers co-founded Rocket Internet, an early-stage technology investor based in Germany.
Rocket Internet was an early stage investor in Egypt-based e-commerce company Jumia in 2012. Jumia has since undergone two additional funding rounds with Summit Partners and JP Morgan Asset Management.
Jumia has operations in Nigeria, Egypt, Morocco and Kenya, and focuses on selling consumer products over the Internet.
The new fund will invest anywhere between US$ 130,000 euros and US$13 million. The fund will focus on markets that traditional venture capitalists have tended to ignore, including Africa, South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. It will primarily focus on e-commerce solutions.
Global Founders Capital has successfully built companies in the past giving it an edge when it comes to evaluating deals and helping companies grow.
Our passion is to support businesses run by gifted entrepreneurs worldwide,” said the fund in a statement.
Source: The East African