Venture Capital firm and previous investor in African startups such as Kudi, Terrapay, Gebeya, etc. Partech has announced the final closing of its latest Seed Fund, Partech Entrepreneur III, at $100M, investing in post-COVID trends in health, work, commerce, finance, mobility and computing. The VC said despite the lockdown, the Fund is actively investing in Europe, US and Asia to support seed-stage startups in the reboot of what our personal and professional lives will look like in years ahead.

“In the coming five to 10 years, every startup will face one or two other crises like this one — the risk of this or another virus is going to weigh above all our heads,” says Romain Lavault, general partner at Partech. “We’re looking for entrepreneurs who’ve learned from the current situation and are anticipating the next one.”

Here Is What You Need To Know

• With the Partech Entrepreneur III Fund, Partech is now one of the largest seed investors around the globe, with its seed funds exceeding $300M in total and topping 160 investments in 22 countries across Europe, US and Asia. Partech seed funds are run by a dedicated team of 10 investors made of former founders and startup employees, located in San Francisco, Paris and Berlin.
• Partech invests across all stages of seed, from pre-seed rounds of a few hundred thousand dollars to pre-Series A rounds of several $M, from chips & deep tech to marketplaces. Investments are focused on 6 verticals revealed and accelerated by the 2020 crisis:
• Future of Health:​ ​Personalized, Online, AI-assisted
• Future of Work:​ ​Remote, Collaborative, Continuous education
• Future of Commerce: ​Software-enabled, Social, Instant
• Future of Finance: ​API-based, Data-driven, Decentralized
• Future of Mobility: ​Autonomous, Multimodal, On-demand
• Future of Computing: ​Edge, AI, Wireless
• Partech seed funds are large by design, so as to be able to invest pro-rata (or more) in follow-on Series A and B rounds led by other Funds. After 18 months from the initial Partech investment, 2/3 of companies have either raised Series A, or been acquired at a higher valuation. They have raised more than $1.5B in follow-on money as of today.

“We didn’t want a VC in our seed round, and then we spoke to Partech. I’m super glad they decided to support us from Day 0, being always there for us to challenge us and help us go to the next stage.” — Jean-Charles Samuelian-Werve, Co-Founder & CEO of Alan.

Partech’s Investment Checklist

“We’re still very much evaluating the quality of the team behind every project, and storytelling abilities are on top of our must-have list,” says Lavault. “But more than before, we’re also scrutinising profitability prospects, how much of a company’s performance relies on globalisation and how startups have dealt with the current crisis.”

For founders, that means being able to check off or address all the items on this list:

• Communicating to customers about business and safety in coronavirus times
• Reassuring employees
• Keeping a lid on costs
• Quickly nailing available loans and financing
• How long did it take to stabilise your company after the pandemic hit your part of the world?
• What do you think needs to change at your company after Covid-19?
• What’s different in your market now?

Read also : Ghana’s President Speaks at Africa.com Webinar on Crisis Management for African Business Leaders

“There are some really varied reactions, from just furloughing staff to ride out the storm to deeper pivots and demonstrations of extreme agility and creative vision from some entrepreneurs,” says Lavault.

A Look At The VC Firm Partech

Partech is a global investment firm with offices in San Francisco(US), Paris (France), Berlin (Germany) and Dakar (Senegal). 

“We bring together capital, operational experience and strategic support for entrepreneurs at seed, venture and growth stages across multiple continents, with $1.5B investment capacity. Investments range from $200K to $50M in a wide range of technologies and businesses for enterprises and consumers, from software, digital brands and services, to hardware and deep tech across all major industries, ” the VC notes.

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• Founders benefit not only from a highly dedicated and hands-on support by each investor in the Partech seed team (highly praised with a NPS of 80 as of Q1 2020), but also from the larger Partech community, sharing advice and best practices. This community is managed day-to-day by a team of 6 people full time, is strong of 400 Founders and has access to key decision makers at a hundred Fortune 500 companies (of which a third are Partech LPs).

“We simply wouldn’t be where we are today without the outstanding daily support from Partech. They have really been a deeply transformative partner for our business and it has been a huge privilege to have them onboard from day 1. We are extremely thankful for this amazing journey together!” — Vincent Dupied, Co-Founder & CEO of Dejbox.

Companies backed by Partech have completed more than 20 initial public offerings and more than 50 strategic exits above $100M. 

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer