Saviu Ventures, a leading venture capital firm in Francophone Africa, has reached the first close of its second fund Saviu II, backed by private investors and family offices, to continue investing in the region’s most promising startups.
Founded in 2018 and led by Benoit Delestre, Samuel Touboul and Cynthia Mandjek, Saviu Ventures was one of the first movers in the Francophone African VC space, and now has a team of seven investors and operators spread across Abidjan, Dakar, and Paris.
So far it has invested in 12 startups, mostly from Francophone Africa, and including the likes of Anka, Julaya, Zanifu, Lapaire, and Paps, and it is now set for further investments after completing the first close of its second fund at EUR12 million (US$13 million).
In line with Saviu I, Saviu Ventures’ second fund will invest from seed to Series A in African early-stage startups, with a strong focus on Francophone Africa. Saviu funds are sector-agnostic but typically invest in tech or tech-enabled companies in sectors such as fintech, e-health, edtech, climate-tech, and e-commerce.
Following its first close Saviu II already made a few investments, including in Cameroon’s Waspito, Senegal’s Rubyx, and Kenya’s Workpay.
Concurrent with this first closing, Saviu II and its management company have also obtained a license from the Mauritius Financial Markets Authority (FSC), making Saviu Ventures one of the few independent and fully regulated venture capital fund management companies in the Francophone West African region.
“Reaching the first close of Saviu II and obtaining our license from regulatory authorities is a recognition of all the work that has been done in the past five years, building the track record of Saviu I and the brand name of Saviu Ventures in the Francophone Africa region. We are now ready to support a new generation of talented entrepreneurs within the tech industry, side by side as we’ve always done,” said Delestre.
