The co-investment fund Catalytic Africa, established in 2019 by the African Business Angels Network (ABAN) and AfriLabs, has concluded transactions in 10 countries in the last year.
The partnership between AfriLabs, a pan-African network of technology and innovation centres, and ABAN aims to increase the pool of capital available to promising African growth-stage entrepreneurs, support the startup ecosystem, and increase the visibility of impact to institutional funders.
It created Catalytic, a co-investment fund that will match investments made by registered angel investors with institutional funds. The initiative is supported by Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and the Digital Africa fund.
The fund launched full operations last October after a successful pilot, and has since co-invested around US$500,000 with angel investors into startups in 10 countries, including Cameroon, Botswana, Nigeria, Tunisia, Kenya, and South Africa. These represent a 60 per cent Catalytic Africa matching fund approval rate for applications received.
“There are three parties to every transaction on Catalytic Africa because we believe the only way to foster an inclusive ecosystem growth is by attending to the needs of all its stakeholders – the startup to further its growth and expansion; the innovation hub to support the startup along their development journey; and the angel network to provide mentorship and guidance to the startup. It is with this philosophy we built the Catalytic Africa model to be encompassing,” said Fadilah Tchoumba, ABAN secretary general.
“Seeing Catalytic Africa become a reality has only strengthened our suspicion that de-risking angel investors’ investment into innovative African startups can have a positive impact on millions of people. Being able to provide the matching funding unlocks potential and gives entrepreneurs some breathing space.”
