Cyril Collon - Afrikan Heroes

Partech Africa II’s New $262M Fund To Target Seed To Series C African Startups

February 9, 2023

Partech has announced the first close of Partech Africa II at €245 million, exceeding the intended fund size.

“We had set an ambitious goal for Partech Africa II at €230M, with a hard cap at €280M, essentially doubling the size of our first fund. We overreached it with a closed amount already above the target fund size,” said Cyril Collon, General Partner at Partech Africa. “This would not have been possible without the trust and the support from our major existing investors. We are honoured that top-tier global institutions and strategic commercial investors have decided to back Partech Africa II,” he added.

Partech Africa II will expand on its successful strategy of identifying and supporting the continent’s next generation of category leaders. The Fund will award initial tickets ranging from $1 million to $15 million from Seed to Growth to entrepreneurs who employ a combination of technology and outstanding operations to address some of the continent’s difficult-to-solve but massive issues across all sectors.

Cyril Collon, General Partner at Partech Africa.

Major Development Finance Institutions (DFIs), Institutional, and Commercial investors support this second iteration of Partech’s Africa-focused strategy. These investors include anchor investor KfW, the German Development Bank, as well as the European Investment Bank (EIB), International Finance Corporation (IFC), FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, Bpifrance Investissement, British International Investment (BII), DEG, and Proparco.

“With Partech Africa II, our investment thesis is actually to pursue the successful strategy of our first fund,” commented Tidjane Dème, General Partner at Partech Africa. “We launched this strategy when less than $400m were invested annually in equity on the continent. African tech companies are now raising $6bn annually validating our early commitment beyond any expectations. Still, we know there are many more champions to build in Africa and we are ready to support them,” he said.

With a first Fund of €125 million, Partech launched its Africa-focused strategy in 2018.

The portfolio now includes 17 businesses that were founded in 9 African nations and are currently active in 27 of those nations. Over one million merchants and over 20 million end users are benefiting from these category leaders across a wide range of industries, including Fintech, Healthtech, Logistics, and Edtech.

In both 2021 and 2022, this portfolio attracted 10% or more of all investments made in Africa.

Building on the lessons learned from the previous fund, Partech Africa will continue to lead and co-lead rounds with a wider ticket range, co-investing with the top regional and international players, and actively supporting African founders financially, strategically, and operationally.

The team, which is based in Dakar, Nairobi, and Dubai and is led by Cyril Collon and Tidjane Dème and also includes Marie Benrubi, Sabrine Chahrour, Lewam Kefela, and Matthieu Marchand, is expanding into other cities to carry out this approach.

With three of its members — Romane Assou, Léa Gnaly, and Alhou Maiga — dedicated to Partech Africa, the strong worldwide platform of Partech is enhanced.

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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

Partech Africa Is Raising Its Second African Startup Fund

June 11, 2022

Partech Africa II, a generalist fund founded in January 2018, is seeking to raise its second venture capital fund. It will target high-growth African start-ups as well as small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) in the digital and technology sectors.

Partech Africa II aspires to double the commitments received by the first venture capital fund, Partech Africa I, which closed in January 2019 after raising 125 million euros ($133 million) from forty investors. Several of them have stated their intent to participate alongside the new vehicle.

Partech Africa managing partners Tidjane Dème and Cyril Collon

As a result, the European Investment Bank (EIB) said on Wednesday, June 8, that it was considering investing in the fund for an unknown sum. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) also stated in a project note that it expected to contribute up to 25 million euros (26.5 million dollars) in this second venture capital fund, not to exceed 20% of the overall commitment.

This is the same sum that the Dutch development financing institution, FMO, intends to commit.

Partech Africa II will follow the investment strategy of its predecessor, leveraging on the knowledge and experience of the team led by Partech Africa managing partners Tidjane Dème and Cyril Collon.

This vehicle would attempt to make seed investments in African technology start-ups concentrating in supply chain services, mobile and online consumer services, fintech, and mobility ranging from €1 million to €15 million. It will also make Series D investments and follow-on investments in the continent’s leading tech firms.

According to Partech Africa’s 2021 annual report on venture capital funding for African start-ups, published in February, the African tech ecosystem attracted twice as many investors in 2021 (+101 percent compared to 2020). 681 equity deals raised $5.2 billion in total, more than double the amount invested in 2020.

Egyptian Service Installment Platform ADVA secures Six-figure Seed Round

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

MoneyFellows, Egyptian Digital Savings-and-Loans Startup Closes $4 Million Series A Funding

June 22, 2020

Ahmed Wadi, founder and CEO of MoneyFellows

Described as one of the hottest fintech startup in Engypt with its disruptive capabilities in traditional savings-and –loans scheme, MoneyFellows, which offers multiple channels for contributory savings and credit has attracted $4million investment to boost operations. The contributory savings and loans schemes has raised $4 million in a Series A investment led by Partech Africa and Sawari Ventures, and the funding round is aimed at growing MoneyFellows beyond its base of about 150,000 users with the launch of new products in the coming months, the company said.

Ahmed Wadi, the startup’s CEO and founder, says they plan to spread their reach across Egypt (they are currently concentrated in Cairo) as well as expand to other countries in Africa. Wadi founded MoneyFellows in 2016 and reportedly raised $1 million in a pre-Series A round last year, with the participation of 500 Startups and Dubai Angel Investors. MoneyFellows joins the growing cohort of African fintech companies using digital features to give structure and scale to offline financial services. Their target market and solution addresses an often informal system of savings that cuts across continents and could improve transparency in the process of availing credit to those who need them.

Known as “gameeyas” in the Middle East and North Africa region, or “tontines” in parts of West and Central Africa, rotating savings and credit associations (ROSCAs) are legitimate means of leveraging the power of numbers for credit access, especially for low-to-middle income earners. Such groups can be found amongst friends or colleagues at a workplace who decide to set aside fixed amounts to contribute to a pool, on the understanding that each can place a request for a lump-sum withdrawal to cater to one’s needs.

Depending on the individuals involved, a ROSCA could be a loose aggregation where hand-shake agreements suffice, or formally registered associations. MoneyFellows requires each user to sign a legal contract before the circle starts. Users can join multiple circles, but participation is based on a credit assessment process that determines time slots and amount to contribute. Cyril Collon, a general partner at Partech Africa, says MoneyFellows is, “making money circles attractive for millennials and their grandparents,” and that the startup’s digital solution “offers convenient secured lending and saving schemes to consumers.” The investment increases Partech’s portfolio of African companies that include Yoco, Kudi and TradeDepot, all of which target innovation in the informal sector.

Cyril Collon, a general partner at Partech Africa

Egypt’s ascendancy as an African fintech destination was exemplified in 2019 by the IPO of Fawry, a pioneering e-payment solution in North Africa. Multilateral institutions and Middle Eastern angel networks with large funds are throwing their weight behind the region’s emerging companies. MoneyFellows is on a different, probably smaller scale mission than Fawry. But Hany Al Sonbaty, managing partner at Sawari Ventures sees the startup as “one of the most promising fintech companies” in the region, one that will promote a savings culture in Egypt.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry