Techbytes: Seedstars Africa announces $42m raise backed by AfDB, EIB (Technext24)

Seedstars Africa Ventures I, a venture capital fund making early-stage investments in highly scalable start-ups in Africa has closed a US$42 million raise.

The funding has participation from the African Development Bank, EIB Global and support from the European Union and Boost Africa among other global investors, reports Technext24.com.

Announcing this at the 2024 Africa Investment Forum Market Days currently underway in Rabat, Seedstars noted that the raise means it had secured $50 million in commitments towards its $80 million fundraising target.

Seedstars Africa Ventures is a member of LBO France Group, which played a pivotal role in seeding this initiative as part of their multi-asset class African strategy, alongside other initiatives.

The Fund was founded by Maxime Bouan, Tamim El Zein and Bruce Nsereko Lule and both founders had over 45 years of experience investing and working across the continent.

According to the founders, it was designed to address gaps in early-stage financing across Africa through investments of up to $2 million in seed and series A rounds, with significant follow-on capacity of up to $5 million, thereby bridging available pools of capital.

By leading successive investment rounds, the fund would catalyse co-investment while offering operational support to start-ups.

The fund had already deployed over $10 million to five pioneering African startups in the climate, food systems, energy access, internet connectivity, financial inclusion, and payments infrastructure sectors.

These businesses serve over 60 million people, including by connecting 60,000 households to the Internet, supporting 50,000 farmers, and empowering 30,000 individuals with financial inclusion services across eight African countries.

The portfolio was also fully 2X compliant, empowering women in startups and ecosystems.

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