Jeffrey Fasegha

State of Exits in Africa happening right now at #AESIS2024 Really important to think about and define if you’re a startup looking to raise VC funding. Starting with the ‘exit in mind’ means understanding what the exit options are, realistically. If you’re considering launching a Fund of your own, understanding how and when the liquidity events are likely to happen is fundamental. Zachariah, Ido and Wanji are sharing incredible insights. #earlystageinvestors #venturecapital #venturepartner #startupecosystem #exits

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Summary: TLcom Capital, an African VC firm, has closed its second fund at $154 million, making it the largest investor in early-stage African startups. Key takeaways: TLcom has closed their second fund at $154 million, attracting over 20 limited partners, including the European Investment Bank and Visa Foundation. The firm maintains a consistent strategy of investing in early-stage opportunities, but also considers opportunities at growth and later stages. TLcom has expanded its portfolio to include companies in Egypt and South Africa and has a focus on traditional sectors such as fintech, mobility, and healthcare. Counter arguments: The firm's emphasis on early-stage opportunities may result in lower returns as these companies carry more risk. As more VC firms focus on the African market, the competition for high-quality startups may increase, making it difficult for funds to generate significant returns. #venturecapital #vc #startups

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I found Afrorian's analogy comparing venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) to baseball and basketball insightful. However, it’s essential to approach investing in Africa with a region-specific focus. VC investment thrives in areas with well-developed ecosystems that support innovation and product development—especially where there’s a clear value proposition and competitive advantage for scaling across regions, the continent, or even globally. Regions like North Africa, East Africa, South Africa, Nigeria, and Ghana exemplify such environments. At the same time, I believe alternative investments and later-stage platforms—particularly in infrastructure and PE—are crucial in creating the supportive environment that VCs need. Strategic investments in areas like energy, digital infrastructure, education, and healthcare lay a solid foundation for innovation and sustainable growth. A critical point here is that sustainable economic growth remains elusive without foundational investments in these sectors. The current over-reliance on foreign limited partners (LPs) in Africa, along with limited local LP participation, creates an imbalance. This dependency on public sector funding and foreign direct investment (FDI) for economic development presents long-term stability risks. In regions like North America and Europe, PE is successful in part because local LPs provide a substantial share of capital, while general partners (GPs) co-invest to align interests effectively. In Africa, the lack of local LP involvement often forces investors and sponsors to prioritise assets with revenue in USD or currencies pegged to the Euro, like the CFA Franc. This helps mitigate foreign exchange risk for foreign LPs (including development finance institutions, or DFIs) and allows returns to exceed hurdle rates that might otherwise be reduced by currency depreciation. The ultimate goal, however, should be to foster local LP involvement so African investments can achieve globally competitive returns—ideally without the drag of forex depreciation on performance.

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4 Things Startup Founders Need to Know about Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) As the landscape of mergers and acquisitions (#M&A) continues to expand within the African startup ecosystem, understanding more of what an M&A entail is crucial. Whether you're planning to sell your startup or merge with another company, here are 4 some tips to aid your understanding. #MergersandAcquisitions #founders #startup #merger #acquisition

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Check out the topics we've lined up for the rest of the year and join us as we support African entrepreneurs. #Shujaacapital #PaschalOffordum #Africanstartups

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Early stage start-ups: VC firm Openseedvc has set up a $10m fund for early-stage startups in Africa and Europe. The new firm's looking to invest in AI, digital health and fintech. #Africa #startups #ai #digitalhealth #fintech

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This African investor pioneered the mobile tower leasing business in Africa. Built the largest Africa-focused private investment firm. And manages $4+ billion in assets. Meet, Helios Investment Partners. The Prototype Helios is the investor behind some of Africa’s biggest deals. Connecting capital to African talent and businesses. Started in 2004.  When Tope Lawani and Babatunde Soyoye left TPG.  To venture out on their own. Helios had a mountain to climb🏔️ To prove they could invest in Africa successfully. Before raising a fund. They had to show they could make waves in Africa.   Sure, they’d nailed investing in America, Europe, and Asia.  But Africa? Nothing but crickets 🦗 Their 1st challenge?  Fixing up the Modern Africa Fund.  A $110 million fund in trouble, started in 1997.  Funded by the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation This fund had fingers in 8 companies. Some deep in hot water. Helios swooped in like Superman 🦸‍♂️.  Rescued the fund and cashed out big time. Afsat Communications, a satellite company, scored a sweet 115% return.  While Flamingo Holdings, a flower exporter, brought home a 40% gain. Come 2005.  Helios was hunting for game-changers in Africa 🔍. They stumbled onto the mobile telephony scene.  And thought, “Hey, let’s grab a mobile license in Nigeria!”.  Spoiler: They lost out to MTN Nigeria and Econet Group.  But hey, they spotted a juicy opportunity🍑 . Building mobile towers and renting them out to telecom(telcos) bigwigs 📡. Why? Back then, telcos spent 50% of their cash building mobile towers. Landline penetration in Nigeria was at 1% 📞.  Someone had to build a whole new telephony system from scratch! They tried buying towers from MTN. But MTN said “No way José” 🚫.  So, they rolled up their sleeves and built their own towers💪.  And bam, HTN Towers Nigeria was born. Simple model:  Buy land, throw up a tower, plug it into the ⚡ grid, get a generator, and slap on some security.  Kinda like real estate 🏢. They took notes from big shots in the U.S. like Crown Castle & American Tower. Dropping $12 million to dot Nigeria with mobile infrastructure 📶. HTN Towers pioneered the model in Africa. Allowing telcos to focus on their core business.  Freeing up cash for investments in network growth and customer service improvement. Helios cashed out big-time in 2016. Selling HTN Towers to IHS Towers —Africa, Middle East, and Latin America’s mobile tower big boss. And today, Helios is the biggest African investor. With  💰Investments of $3.8+ billion in African businesses.  💼Exits of $4+ billion to investors in their firm. 💵 Revenues of $9+ billion through its portfolio companies. What are your thoughts on Helios’ story? Let me know in the comments. 👇 Today in my newsletter, I’ll dive deep into Helios' meteoric rise. Grab it in your inbox here 💌  https://lnkd.in/d-mDKYRT PS- Helios' investing playbook on Africa is the best I've ever seen.

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🚀Africa should be taking more of the centre stage globally, but why isn’t it? We all know the stats. 📍By 2050, 1 in 4 people globally will be African. 📍Until 2029, 6 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa. 📍Tech adoption across the continent is accelerating the digital infrastructure required to provide access to financial services, improve healthcare, optimise food systems, adapt to climate-smart systems and more generally solve deep, interesting problems that have a commercial and impact upside. And the entrepreneurs are of a different rigour. Whether home-grown or internationally trained, they’re innovating against multiple constraints such as macro headwinds, currency devaluations, changing regulations, lower-than-average consumer purchasing power and yet are finding unique business models and distribution channels to scale. So much magic is happening and we need to keep sharing these stories in the global stage so everyone wakes up to the outsized opportunities that surpass market challenges. Thanks to Forbes for spotlighting the African entrepreneurship landscape, and for hosting Summit that provided space for 1000+ attendees to deepen their connections and understanding of this incredible continent.

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Insights from Iyinoluwa Aboyeji highlight critical points about the startup ecosystem in Africa: *Pre-seed and seed investors such as Future Africa are uniquely positioned to capitalize on the funding boom at later stages (Series A-D). *The need for a world-class accelerator program in Africa, such as Accelerate Africa. *The importance of investors/founders who understand context, especially in times of crises, such as the recent funding contraction #FutureAfrica #AccelarateAfrica #VentureCapital

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We’ve been waiting for this! One of our earliest AI investments, made two years ago, has progressed faster than we ever anticipated. As the Olympics commence this weekend, one of our fastest-growing portfolio companies AiScout has already debuted their technology in partnership with Intel and the International Olympic Committee – IOC. To see this compelling, 5-minute-long video which shows the immense global impact of this technology from the IOC, click the thumbnail below. Congrats to all involved! #ArtificialIntelligence #MachineLearning #AIart #DataScience #DeepLearning #Robotics #AIcommunity #AIlife #Automation #TechInnovation #Paris2024 #OlympicSpirit https://lnkd.in/eTPJgHG8

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I will be at Startup Ibadan and I am excited to be speaking on this panel with other industry leaders. Stop by and lets chat on how to drive innovation and growth in the Ibadan Startup Ecosystem!

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Breega, a venture capital firm renowned for its early-stage funds in Europe, has turned its focus to Africa with the launch of a $75 million fund dedicated to supporting African startups. Having secured $52 million in commitments so far, the firm expects the final close by the end of 2024. This marks a significant expansion for Breega, which has established offices in Lagos, Nigeria, and Cape Town, South Africa, to strengthen its presence on the continent. https://bit.ly/3Z4Wx72

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London, UK based TLcom Capital LLP recently closed its second fund to back early-stage start-ups across Africa. 💸 $154M for TIDE Africa Fund II, with participation from over 20 limited partners including European Investment Bank (EIB), Visa Foundation, Bertelsmann, and AfricaGrow, a joint venture between Allianz and DEG Impact. 💡 Actively seeking 20 to 25 early-stage investment opportunities, with a particular focus on the #seedstage and #SeriesA, with consideration for exploring deals at growth and later stages too. Investment interests lie in traditional sectors, including #fintech, #mobility, #agriculture, #healthcare, #education, and #commerce. Initial investments typically range from $1 million to $3 million. 🌍 #Africa 📈 TLcom's current portfolio companies include SeamlessHR, Autochek Africa, Vendease Africa, Ilara Health, PULA, Terragon Group, among others. The VC operates from offices in London, Lagos and Nairobi. 💭 “We need global capital to look at Africa and think of a place where good investments can be made and technology can generate much value. That’s still to be achieved at scale, so that’s our primary target.” - Maurizio Caio, managing partner 🗞️ Tage Kene-Okafor, TechCrunch https://lnkd.in/eNZGqJhc 👏 For the #AudaciousInvestors unleashing innovation and empowering tomorrow🚀 Maurizio I Omobola I Ido I Andreata I Eloho I Philippe I Wairimu I Olumide I Shamona I Francesca I Team TLcom … #venturecapital #vc #funds #startups #entrepreneurs #funding #tech #uk #entrepreneurship #technology #innovation #Nairobi #Lagos #London

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I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel titled “Raising Money: What VCs Are Looking For In Africa Now” with Christine Namara of Flat6Labs, Hope Ditlhakanyane of Founders Factory Africa and moderated by Yandile Nuku of Co-creation Hub (CcHUB) at the Forbes 30 under 30 Summit Africa. Some of the key takeaways were: - Africa has a great supply of amazing founders solving the most critical problems across the continent. - We need more diverse capital flowing into the ecosystem, locally and from the global west - We need to own our narrative and sell our stories better - Beyond access to capital, structures and systems have to be put in place to ensure founder success - Liquidity! This is what attracts more capital.

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This Ugandan investor started a chicken business at 12. Was a Partner at a $200 billion global hedge fund. And manages a $500+ million fund investing in Africa. Meet, Richard Okello The Faith-Driven Investor. Richard is on a mission to leave Africa better than he found it.  Using his faith as an anchor to create impact as a steward of capital. Born in Kenya. He grew up in Uganda During Idi Amin’s era. He read The Economist. In his early school years. Opening his eyes to the world of business & economics. And at 12. Started his first business. Using his school holidays to make pocket money. He’d buy chickens on sticks from upcountry. Sell it for 2X the price in the city.  For a 100% profit. When people caught on. He switched to selling grains. Using the same arbitrage strategy. Buying low and selling high. Richard left Uganda at 18. When he got a scholarship. To UWC Atlantic College high school in Wales. He left Wales 2 years later. When he got another scholarship. To Swarthmore College in the U.S. To study Economics. In his 1st semester of uni.  Tragedy struck. Richard lost his mom. His parents had separated then. Making him legal guardian overnight. To 3 young sisters. Not one to waste a crisis. Richard used this setback to push him.  Working 2X as hard. Taking 7 classes instead of 4. Working while studying. To pay for his siblings.   He graduated 3 years later. At the top of his class. A year earlier than usual. He got recruited out of uni. To join Bridgewater Associates in 1998. Then a $9 billion hedge fund. At Bridgewater, he worked as an associate.  Starting out in currency and debt research. Before moving on to client advisory. Where he helped the firm grow to $50+ billion. Moving from Associate to Partner in 5 years. He left Bridgewater in 2007.  To join Makena Capital Management, LLC . A private endowment sprung out of Stanford University  Where he led investments of over $15+ billion into 300+ funds globally. It was during his annual visits back home. That he began thinking of building something for Africa.  Something to create great returns and impact at the same time.    So, in 2011. He left Makena to start Sango Capital. Taking on the push for investment in Africa. With a hybrid fund investing in both funds and companies. And today Sango Capital is an investment giant.  With  📈 Portfolio of  20+ funds and companies across 20+ African countries 💰Investments of $500+ million in African funds and businesses 👑 Global sovereign wealth funds,pension funds, endowments as investors Sango Capital has invested in Viathan Engineering Limited, Marketsquare and more. Richard sits on the committees of AVCA - The African Private Capital Association, African Leadership Academy Has investors like Ray Dalio as personal mentors. What are your thoughts on Richard’s story? Let me know in the comments. 👇 Join my newsletter for more stories on business, markets and investing. https://lnkd.in/d-mDKYRT

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The Cohort 3 of the Immerse Africa VC Fellowship by Immerse Africa VC Academy starts this weekend. This is a chance for hands-on learning of what VCs do. I dare say that this is the most practical VC training in Africa. We start with understanding the VC Business Model, and also build a VC Fund Return model. I like to do this because it shows in practice what it means to return a Fund. That is why I laugh when VC Funds are being congratulated for closing a Fund. My response to closing a VC Fund is, "Now it's time to work". Our Fellows will see practically what it takes to achieve a 3x Fund Return and 25% IRR in 10 years (maybe 12). After this class, many of our Fellows typically evaluate their desire to be a VC. And that is what I love to see. We need to realise that VCs are custodians of capital. They are to invest in startups, achieve an exit and return money in multiples to the investors (LPs) that committed the capital in the first place. If you have not registered for Cohort 3 already, well you still have 5 days. Register with the link below. https://lu.ma/bj8c26m5 See you on Saturday...

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I’d like to introduce everyone to our latest portfolio company - VIEBEG, an innovative healthtech startup revolutionizing medical supply chains across East and Central Africa. Ever since visiting VIEBEG’s office in Kigali earlier in the year I caught on to the vision of Tobias Reiter and his team. Several key factors drove our conviction in Viebeg: 1. Massive market opportunity - The African medical products market is estimated at $5-13 billion and growing 5-13% annually. Viebeg's AI-powered procurement and inventory management platform is perfectly positioned to capture this opportunity by bringing much-needed efficiency and transparency to a fragmented industry. 2. Impressive traction and growth - Viebeg has demonstrated strong product-market fit and scalability. Their customer base of 850+ hospitals and clinics across Rwanda, Kenya, Burundi, and DRC validates the demand for their solution. 3. Innovative AI-driven platform - Viebeg's helps streamline healthcare equipment demand, optimize inventory, and enable data-driven procurement decisions. This technology not only improves efficiency but also unlocks new possibilities for healthcare providers. 4. Strong partnerships and validation - Viebeg has secured strategic partnerships with the Rwandan Ministry of Health, regional banks, and over 60 medical suppliers. Backing from corporate investors like Sanofi and J&J further validates their approach and potential. 5. Experienced team with deep domain expertise - the management team bring complementary skills in AI/ML and medical supply chain operations. Their passion for improving healthcare access in underserved markets, combined with a strong supporting team, positions Viebeg for continued success. At Launch Africa, we're committed to backing transformative technologies that solve critical challenges on the continent. Viebeg exemplifies our thesis on the power of AI and data to revolutionize traditional industries like healthcare supply chains.

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Great write-up by Kola A. from Ventures Platform Fund I couldn't agree more with Kola's points. My top 3 takeaways are: - Africa demands a patient investment approach, distinct from other continents, due to its underdeveloped infrastructure and opaque markets. - We must move away from a story of charity as the future of African venture capital hinges on demonstrating that it can generate substantial returns. -The journey requires patience and a long-term perspective, but the rewards are substantial for those who dare to invest in Africa’s future. Check out the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dn9wQFqj What's your biggest takeaway from the article? Let's discuss it! #Africa #Tech #Startup #Investment #Innovation #EmergingMarkets 

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African Startup Funding Declines Over 50% YoY to $780 Million in H1 2024. Startups across Africa raised $780 million between January and June 2024, a 31% decline compared to H2 2023 figures and an even starker 57% decline compared to H1 2023. This decline continues a downward trend that began in 2023 when Africa's technology startups raised $3.5 billion across 547 deals, a 46% decline compared to the previous year[2022]. Key takeaways: 💰Two-thirds of the funding was in the form of equity, while a third was debt. 🧳 4 out of 5 dollars went to startups in the "Big Four" markets: Kenya, Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa. Kenya alone secured a third of the total funding. 🚛 Transport & Logistics was the top-funded sector at 28%, driven by deals like Moove and SPIRO. #FintTech came in second but led in the number of startups raising $1M+ 👬🏾 Only a tiny fraction of funding went to female-founded startups, with 85% going to all-male founding teams and 92% to male CEOs. The decline in startup funding continues the downtrend witnessed in 2023. However, the resilience of African startups is evident. By supporting diversity and innovation, we can help the ecosystem weather the storm and emerge stronger. One way of doing that is to double down on building sustainable businesses. Peter Ndiang'ui, Harry Hare, Kamau Kunyiha, Moses Kemibaro, Fred Kithinzi, Serah Mwikali Katusya Read more: https://lnkd.in/dGptrGdu #AfricanStartups #VentureCapital #FundingTrends

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