Following the management team’s acquisition of the entire share capital of the management company SEAF Morocco Capital Partners, which has been owned by the global investment platform SEAF since its founding in 2018, the company announces a change in shareholder control and changes its name to EmergingTech ventures.
“As a result, the business is changing its name to “EmergingTech Ventures” and getting ready to enter a new stage of development. These adjustments must be the subject of fresh Ministry of Economy and Finance clearance,” states an EmergingTech Ventures news release.
Here’s What You Need To Know
- EmergingTech Ventures, which manages the OPCC, has adopted a fresh strategy in this regard (formerly SEAF Morocco Capital Partners). The firm, which was established in 2018 as a subsidiary of the fund management platform SEAF located in Washington, DC, is currently changing shareholdings as a result of the management team’s acquisition of the company’s share capital. This is made up of the Moroccan trio Mr. Abdelouahid Benlamlih, Mr. Sidi Mohammed Zakraoui, and Mrs. Meriem Zairi Tlemçani, who has been in charge of the business from its inception. The management business has submitted an application file for the aforementioned new authorisation to the AMMC for review.
- This purchase underlines EmergingTech Ventures’ ambition to continue its growth trajectory by integrating it into a regionally autonomous strategy. Independence that would especially enable the acceleration and reinforcement of assistance for bright Moroccan entrepreneurs and those living abroad, who serve as an alluring incubator for technical initiatives with a continental or worldwide focus.
- According to the same source, EmergingTech Ventures is aligned with a new generation of fund management firms that are persuaded that venture capital must be used to advance the development of the Kingdom and the African continent.
- SEAF will continue to be a major investor even if it withdraws from the management company’s capital, joining a distinguished round table of capital partners that includes Tamwilcom (previously CCG), Bank of Africa, Asma Invest, CMR, and the Wise Venture Capital fund (USAID). Fintech, EdTech, HealthTech, and Agritech… Seven strategic industry investments have been made during 2018.
- The SEAF Morocco Growth Fund is an OPCC fund authorised by the AMMC and has the status of a collective investment company (SPCC). It is intended to finance startups and creative VSMEs. The fund operates at three different stages of development: “Seed,” “Early Stage,” and “Venture Capital.”
- Thus, the fund completes a framework for funding innovation that meets the financial requirements of Moroccan start-ups from the seed stage through the acceleration phase and up to the growth stage. The OPCC will change its corporate name to “EmergingTech Ventures Fund I” following this takeover transaction and the management company’s renaming (EVF I). The AMMC will receive and review an OPCC licence renewal submission.
- The SMGF was established as a part of the “Fonds Innov Invest (FII)” initiative, which was started by Tamwilcom (the former Caisse Centrale de Garantie), to encourage innovative entrepreneurship. Since its establishment, the SMGF has made seven investments in strategic industries with promising growth prospects, including health technology, fintech, education technology, agritechnology, and cybersecurity.
- The fund has invested 80% of the money allotted for the investment in high-impact, sophisticated technological assets.
- The management team will continue to support the growth of its current portfolio, make new investments, and prepare exits with this new direction EmergingTech Ventures is taking to better reflect its new status. However, it also aims to raise a new fund, regional this time, to replicate the Moroccan experience and capitalise on its track record.
“We are pleased with the reputation we have established on the Moroccan market and the worldwide growth prospects of our businesses. We are able to broaden the prospects for our currently ongoing fundraising effort and to put Morocco on the map of regional venture capital and continental investors by establishing ourselves as an independent team and meeting the requirements of national and international institutional investors,” Managing Partner of EmergingTech Ventures Meriem Zairi Tlemçani stressed this at the occasion of the event, which inaugurates a new stage in the growth of this Moroccan investment platform.
- Hubertus van der Vaart, a co-founder of SEAF, stated jointly on his behalf that “the contribution he played in the formation of the Moroccan Venture Capital team and the investments made thus far makes SEAF happy. We’ll keep helping as the portfolio moves closer to being sold, and we wish the team well in raising their next round of funding.”
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