Enygma Ventures has continued to throw its weight behind founders in Southern Africa. The Southern African VC has announced it is still accepting new applications for funding from Southern African startups
Here Is All You Need To Know
- Through partnership with Startup Circles, Enygma Ventures is expecting to provide seed capital for startups as well as provide mentoring, training and business validation scholarships through Startup Circles.
“We are looking for entrepreneurs with a vision to solve big problems, to change the status quo, create meaningful solutions and take advantage of this window of time to rebuild our world,” the firm noted in a previous statement.
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“This fund will award successful candidates either with scholarships to get their business off the ground in conjunction with StartupCircles.AI mentorship and education or seed funding from Enygma Ventures. Startup Circles works with mentors from all around the world who assist in facilitating moving quickly through ideation to validation to operation. Applications are open to both men and women entrepreneurs, creative thinkers and innovators who are focused on creative solutions that benefit SADC or African entrepreneurs from the region,” it further added.
- Sandras Phiri, founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of Startup Circles, said previously entrepreneurs needed to be based in a startup hotspot like Cape Town or Nairobi to gain access to the right circles of mentors and investors.
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“But now with Startup Circles, entrepreneurs have the same access to opportunities, mentorship and investment whether they are in Lilongwe or Luanda, male or female. Anybody with access to the internet can apply to access startup support and funding,” he said.
- Startups that are selected for investment will be allowed to participate in the Enygma Ventures’ Investor Readiness Programme which allows businesses to receive an equity investment ranging from $25 000 to $1-million.
- Early-stage innovation startups that are selected will be offered a scholarship to Startup Circles’ Acceleration Programme and upon graduation, startups will receive a pre-seed equity investment valued at $25 000.
About Enygma Ventures And How Startups Can Apply For Funding
Enygma Ventures, is a US-based VC firm founded by award winning entrepreneurs Sarah and Jacob Dusek. In 2019, the VC launched a fund with a focus on investing in women entrepreneurs in the SADC region, making its first set of investments in Play Sense and Lupiya.
“We received over 3 000 applications for funding in 2020 which demonstrates what an incredible talent pool there is in the region. We are excited to see the progress of many of the businesses that didn’t get funded in 2020 and to discover new business gems,” said Lelemba Phiri, Principal and COO of Africa Trust Group.
Here Is How To Apply
Applicants interested in the investment fund can apply online here. Applications are open until August 31, 2022.
Read also Enygma Ventures Still Accepting Applications For New Round Of Funding For Southern African Startups
Startups that do not qualify will be allowed to access support at a cost from Startup Circles which is the leading startup school in Africa and a large contributor to online acceleration.
Enygma Ventures is looking for:
- Businesses that are focused on solving problems for Southern Africa (SADC). The business must either be based or serve/operate in the region.
- For profit ideas/businesses. It does not support charitable concepts at this time.
- Woman founded/led or empowering of women
- Scalable
- A unique defensible business proposition
- A dynamic entrepreneur(s) with demonstrated ability to execute
- A proven revenue model & business concept
- Clarity of purpose
- Demonstrated growth
- Looking for early stage or growth capital
Charles Rapulu Udoh
Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer, who has several years of experience working in Africa’s burgeoning tech startup industry. He has closed multi-million dollar deals bordering on venture capital, private equity, intellectual property (trademark, patent or design, etc.), mergers and acquisitions, in countries such as in the Delaware, New York, UK, Singapore, British Virgin Islands, South Africa, Nigeria etc. He’s also a corporate governance and cross-border data privacy and tax expert.
As an award-winning writer and researcher, he is passionate about telling the African startup story, and is one of the continent’s pioneers in this regard. You can book a session and speak with him using the link: https://insightsbyexperts.com/view_expert/charles-rapulu-udoh