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Venture capital funds are starting to make bigger bets on African startups
Funding has long been a challenge for African startups but the tide has started to turn in the last year as the sector heats up and both investors and entrepreneurs start to see some of their long term efforts come to fruition.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
- Tags
- startups, venture capital
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Cathay Innovation and AfricInvest to Raise $168m Africa VC Fund
Barrier could not say when the fund would be closed, but did confirm investments could come as early as summer 2019. He expects to see strong local showing for startups from across Africinvest’s 10 country offices in Abidjan, Algiers, Cairo, Casablanca, Dubai, Lagos, Nairobi, Paris, Port Louis and Tunis. The firm will open an office in Johannesburg in the near future, according to a company release.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Why Fintech Startups Are Rapidly Becoming Unicorns in Latin America
In the past few years, over 300 fintech startups have been born in Mexico alone, coming in just second to Brazil, which boasts nearly 400 startups in its own fintech sector.
- Categories
- Finance, Technology
- Region
- Latin America
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Press release: CNote Launches Wisdom Fund to Close Lending Gap for Women
New impact investment vehicle provides funding to underserved women of color and low-income women entrepreneurs across the U.S.
- Categories
- Investing
- Region
- North America
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Omidyar Network spins out its fintech investment arm as Flourish, with up to $300 million
Equipped with up to $300 million in capital for operations and investments, the new Flourish will continue to invest around the Network’s core mission of backing companies with a dual focus on making a social impact and achieving quality financial returns.
- Region
- North America
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Viewpoint: Misaligned Hiring Priorities Risk Taking The Impact Out Of Impact Investing
There is a risk, however, that the ‘impact’ part of impact investing becomes diluted if the teams behind these funds - whether launched by corporates or established venture investment firms - lack the necessary expertise in creating social change. This is a very real possibility - in researching the hiring preferences of impact investment funds to help students identify routes to careers in the sector, my Stanford GSB colleague Bernadette Clavier and I found that hiring managers don’t value expertise and experience in social change as highly as they should in their decision-making.
- Categories
- Investing
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Ease Off on the Accelerators: Why GALI’s Latest Study on Accelerator Programs May Be Overstating Their Impact
Early-stage social venture accelerators are growing at a rapid pace in emerging markets, and they receive widespread acclaim – driven in part by positive results from research conducted by the Global Accelerator Learning Initiative (GALI). But South Africa-based investor Nicky Khaki cautions that, while accelerators can certainly have value, their benefits to participating companies may not be as clear cut as GALI's data suggests. He explores why the studies may be exaggerating accelerators' impact – and how they could do better.
- Categories
- Impact Assessment, Social Enterprise
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Solar products maker d.light raises $41 million from African investment firm, others
d.light Design Inc., a San Francisco-based solar lighting and power products maker with operations in India, has raised $41 million (about Rs 294 crore) in equity funding from a consortium led by Inspired Evolution, an Africa-focused investment advisory firm specialising in the energy sector.
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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