Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A) and African Business Angel Network (ABAN) announce the 6th edition of its Africa Early Stage Investor Summit (#AESIS2019)

Venture Capital for Africa

VC4A and ABAN are pleased to announce the 6th edition of the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit (#AESIS2019). The Summit will take place from 13-15 November at Workshop17 at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference brings together leading investors from Africa and beyond to network, exchange insights, create partnerships and make deals. This event is designed ‘for investors, by investors’.

What’s in store at #AESIS2019

The Summit’s speakers and guests hail from the leading angel networks, venture capital (VC) funds, impact investors, accelerators, corporate venture divisions, industry associations, and the public sector.

Venture Capital for Africa
 

The number of Africa-focused angel investor networks and investment funds are rapidly growing and maturing, bringing both critical challenges and greater opportunities for venture capital funding on the continent. Summit delegates will explore developments in Africa’s early-stage investment space and will set the agenda for the coming years.

Day 1 on 13 November is ‘Academy Day’, which includes a series of interactive masterclasses and workshops, ending with a welcome cocktail reception. Day 2 on 14 November is the main Summit Day and will include inspiring keynote presentations by industry leaders and roundtable discussions, and it will end with an Investor Dinner.

Day 3 on 15 November is the optional Innovation Tour featuring insightful visits to key start-up hubs, accelerator programs and scaled up start-ups in the Cape Peninsula area. The detailed program is being finalized.

Announcing Naspers Foundry’s 2019 partnership

Naspers Foundry will be sponsoring the Summit’s main cocktail reception on 14 November and will be contributing to the Summit’s program development. Naspers Foundry is an R1.4 billion start-up funding initiative aimed at boosting the South African technology sector. As well as providing much-needed funding, Naspers Foundry helps talented and ambitious technology entrepreneurs develop and grow businesses that improve people’s daily lives.

“At Naspers, we believe in backing local entrepreneurs in growth markets and helping them by leveraging our global scale and experience. The Africa Early Stage Investor Summit provides a unique opportunity for Naspers to engage with like-minded investors and ecosystem partners from across the continent as we build out Naspers Foundry, and our broader investment ambitions”, said Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, CEO South Africa, Naspers.

Building on the success of 2018

The 2018 edition brought together over 300 investors from prominent African angel networks and VC funds to identify and address the critical gaps in the early-stage investment space going into 2019.

At the 2018 Summit, a number of successful partnerships were created, including a new partnership between South Africa’s Technology Innovation Agency (TIA), a public entity and the South African angel investor networks, Dazzle Angels and Jozi Angels. ABAN also signed an MoU with the African Union to deepen their collaboration to support entrepreneurship across the continent.

Additionally, L’Afrique Excelle, the Francophone edition of the World Bank Group’s XL Africa post-accelerator, formally launched at the 2018 Summit. The programme brought an unprecedented spotlight and momentum to French-speaking African growth stage start-ups. Over 30 VC funds including the IFC, ODV, Proparco, Outlierz Ventures and Compass VC formally signed up as investment partners for the program, with most of these partnerships formed over the two days of the Summit.

VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A

In 2017 and 2018, the Summit also featured a venture showcase of leading African digitally-enabled scale-ups from across the continent, resulting in a number of series A deals totaling over $15 million.

In the 6th edition, ten growth-stage companies that have been selected and vetted by Africa’s leading VCs will be introduced in the showcase. These companies represent a new class of investment opportunities across the continent.

The selected ventures have strong revenues, are well-positioned for regional and international expansion, and demonstrate important innovations that are disrupting industries like agriculture, healthcare, housing, transportation, and finance.

 

 

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.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

Top Venture Capital Firms And Angel Investors For African Startups

startups

For startups looking to get funding for their business, there have been histories of venture capital funds and angel investors who have been vibrant in all round funding of startups. One fact from one reports on startup funding so far is that there is plenty of money out there, from plenty of hungry investors.

Knowing who these investors are would help you streamline your search for investors for your startups and cut the long journey short. The most dollars are going into late-stage startups, followed by early-stage funding, then funding for technology growth and angel or seed series rounds.

startups
 

Now find out who is handing out the cash.

This data shows who the active VCs are now, and who would probably be the best investors to pitch with your deck. 

Active Lead Investors

According to data from Crunchbase here are the 10 most active lead investors. 

Start-Up Chile

Insight Venture Partners

Tencent Holdings

New Enterprise Associates

Sequoia Capital China

Accel

Sequoia Capital

Higher Ground Labs

Quake Capital Partners

Goldman Sachs

Image result for startup venture capital firms

Most Active Seed Stage Investors

When pitching, an important point is to be pitching so as to reach to those who are most likely to fund your type of round. The most active investors in seed rounds during the past 3 months are:

Startup-Chile

Hiventures

Crowdcube

Plug and Play

Innovation Works

500 Startups

Innova Memphis

Entrepreneurs Roundtable

Berkeley SkyDeck Fund

Quake Capital Partners

Top Early Stage Investors

For those, going for early-stage funding, consider these active players: 

IDG Capital

New Enterprise Associates

Sequoia Capital China

Accel

Y Combinator

ZhenFund

Sequoia Capital

Matrix Partners China

Intel Capital

Index Ventures

Most Active Late Stage Investors 

Interested in looking for a Series B or anything above for a growth stage round, the following firms have been the most active globally.

Sequoia Capital

Tencent Holdings

Insight Venture Partners

Bpifrance

Goldman Sachs

Bessemer Venture Partners

New Enterprise Associates

Khosla Ventures

Andreessen Horowitz

Sequoia Capital China

These Investors Have Been The Most Active In Africa, Whether Early, Middle Or Late Funding

Click here to view the list of good investors in African startups. 

 

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/

A Guide On Pitching Startup Deck To Secure Venture Capital

A Guide On Pitching Startup Deck

Even for strong startups, fundraising is a marathon that requires near constant attention for 8–12 weeks. The process is punishing, and riskier than you might imagine. You need to prepare for it as seriously as you would for a race.

Prepare for rejection. A lot of it. A promising startup will get 17 or 18 “no’s” for every “yes.” These brush-offs often have less to do with the startup in question than idiosyncratic context or concerns for each VC. Still, it stings. Don’t get demoralized.

To make matters worse, the stress level will ratchet up every week as inevitable “passes” pile up. Many deals are closed sub-optimally simply because the founder is ground down by the process, slightly panicked, and wants to be done with it. You can avoid this fate!

A Guide On Pitching Startup Deck

There’s been a lot written about how to prepare a deck, less about the mechanics of running the process. Here are a few thoughts, with a special focus on how to use your current investors for leverage during this taxing time:

???? Build a list

Create a Google Sheet/Airtable. Populate it w/ all the firms you want to pitch. Then step back and ask *why* you’re pitching these firms? Do they do deals at your stage? In your space? Any portfolio conflicts? Figure out which partner would be the best fit.

✂️ Curate the list with your VCs

Founders often want to meet with celebrity VCs. An angel might push for a few friend’s funds that aren’t a logical fit. Cut these out of the list. Meetings with “bad fits” will create more work and lead to extra stress + more rejection.

???? Fixate on leads

This is very important: Don’t set up meetings with firms that don’t lead rounds. If you find a lead, you’ll have no trouble filling out a round. Conversely, a lot of lukewarm interest and no lead makes a deal seem weak and process seem endless.

???? Focus on this round — Only this round

You may feel pressure or have intros to meet with growth firms who are more likely a fit for future rounds. Accept the intro, but only with the understanding that you’ll schedule these meeting *after* you close this round.

???? Make one more cut

“It’s just one more meeting…” you’ll say about each less likely intro. Multiply that times ten and you’ll waste serious time and invite more demoralizing rejection. Important not to get distracted or create needless noise.

???? Prep an intro package

Write a “forwardable” email that includes:

  • A 1–2 paragraph teaser about your startup
  • 5–10 bullet points about your company: traction numbers, press clips, notable milestones
  • A deck/Docsend link

????️ Choose the best intros

Choosing who will make the intro is important. You need to balance closeness to the target with cachet. E.g. An intro from a successful entrepreneur is better than one from your VC. But your current VC is a better intro than a service provider.

Image result for startup pitch deck
successful startup pitch decks

????️ Schedule ~10 Meetings

Send invites out in batches by order of preference & try to fill 10 slots as a first wave. Send out further tranches as you get “no’s” from potential investors. More isn’t necessarily better — it’s often worse and it can make a focused process hard.

???? Pad the schedule

You don’t want to cut a productive meeting short because you’ve got to rush out to your next appointment. Likewise, don’t create a bad first impression by being late to a meeting because of a traffic jam or your previous meeting running over.

⚾️ Practice your pitch

A middle-school production of Mary Poppins will rehearse for weeks to impress a group of parents. You won’t impress the best VCs in the world with an unpracticed pitch. Set up 2–3 dress rehearsals of your pitch with friendly investors and advisors.

???? Dress Rehearse

Treat these practice sessions seriously. Avoid “yadda-yaddaing” as you walk through the deck. Ask your VCs to bring some fresh ears to the pitch. Even practice things like talking while getting your computer connected and, of course, handling objections.

???? Sequence investors

Pick a few of your lowest ranked investors and make those your first meetings. Your first pitch shouldn’t be to your dream investor. Even with plenty of practice, nothing beats live feedback. You’ll likely need to burn a few meetings to get in sync.

???? Employ the buddy system

Impressions are subjective, so it’s helpful to have at least two co-founders at the pitch to discuss the feedback from the meeting. Make sure both of you contribute to the pitch and the vibe between you reflects the positive energy at the company.

???? Embrace “Objection Response”

Be methodical about addressing critiques of the deck. Incorporate pushback into your deck. If a point won’t fit in the main flow, build an appendix slide. Every objection should provide data that gets you closer to a “yes.”

???? Report objectively

After you’ve done a few pitches, reconvene with your current VCs. Use this opportunity to rejigger your deck/reconsider your narrative. Remember, try to provide as objective a report as possible — your VCs’ advice will only be as good as your account.

????️ Shield your team (and VCs)

Inevitable rejections will alter the way the startup is perceived by employees and investors (and even yourself). Be honest, but spare your team the ups, downs, and gory details. Stay positive. Even the best companies face tons of rejection!

????️‍♂️ Use backchannels

Ask your VCs to check-in with the investors you pitch. You’ll rarely get straight feedback, but there will typically be some actionable insight that the VC wouldn’t share directly with an entrepreneur.

???? Nurture all interest

Make every potential investor feel like a VIP, even those lowest on your list. It’s often surprising who ultimately does the deal. Nothing is worse than ghosting a VC and coming back when no one else shows interest.

????️ Race to a term sheet

This is the least helpful advice, but the most important. Once you have one term sheet, everyone is on the clock and has to make a decision. If you sense someone is close, figure out what you need to do to close the deal. However…

???? Never ever mislead …

If you tell a VC you have a term sheet or a verbal commitment, and you don’t, you can destroy credibility and the possibility of a deal — also, your broader reputation will take a major hit.

There are a million nuances and edge cases, and no tweetstorm can come close to preparing you for the exhaustion of fundraising. That’s why it’s important to have aligned VCs and to prepare as you would for any other endurance event.

The above opinion is the thought of the Managing Partner at Founder Collective, Entrepreneur and Investor Eric Paley who recently shared this in a tweetstorm. This is a dimension to all the best opinions out there on how to secure a VC for your startup. We thought this must be helpful to you. You may share with any startup you know preparing for a pitch event.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world.

Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/Afrikanheroes/