How Tunisia’s Anava Seed Fund Invested over $7M in Startups

Anava Seed Fund, managed by Flat6Labs Tunisia, achieved remarkable success in the past year. It reported a year-end balance of approximately 9.28 million USD by the end of 2022. The fund had investments in various companies totaling around 7.53 million USD. Although specific details about these investments remain undisclosed, some familiar names like Dabchy and Go My Code were part of the portfolio.

Despite incurring operating expenses that exceeded its income, resulting in a negative operating result of around -0.24 million USD, this outcome was anticipated due to the fund’s expanding participation in multiple ventures. Currently, none of the companies within the fund’s portfolio have started generating profits. The collected revenues originate from gains derived from the sale of SICAV shares (approximately 0.10 million USD), interest gains on associated accounts (approximately 0.24 million USD), and returns from monetary investments (approximately 0.48 million USD).

Anava seed fund

The fund’s overall performance turned significantly positive, with a balance of about 0.69 million USD by the close of 2022. This success was fueled by potential gains realized from the divestment of securities, totaling approximately 0.93 million USD. The primary sources of value creation were predominantly attributed to investments in Lifeeye (approximately 0.61 million USD), Go My Code (approximately 0.12 million USD), Payme (approximately 0.09 million USD), Keeplyna (approximately 0.06 million USD), Dabchy (approximately 0.04 million USD), Orbitech (approximately 0.04 million USD), and Wattnow (approximately 0.03 million USD). As a result, the fund’s initial investments of about 5.11 million USD across different entities appreciated to approximately 7.53 million USD.

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Anava Seed Fund retains the capacity for further strategic investments in burgeoning startups. It possesses available funds of approximately 0.13 million USD and judicious placements in certificates of deposits totaling around 1.14 million USD. Additionally, there is subscribed but uncalled capital of about 1.45 million USD. Benefiting from robust support from influential industry stakeholders, such as Tunisian American Enterprise Fund (approximately 12.44% ownership), BIAT (approximately 6.54% ownership), Meninx Holding (approximately 4.34% ownership), IFC (approximately 3.06% ownership), Flat6labs For Incubators (approximately 0.43% ownership), Sawari Ventures (approximately 4.90% ownership), and Flat6Labs Tunisia (approximately 0.11% ownership), the fund is well-positioned in terms of resources. Anava Seed Fund sets a commendable example for others to follow in the industry.

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