African venture capital firm Founders Factory Africa has announced its rebrand and name change to 54 Collective, evolving its business model to better support transformative technology ventures across the continent through catalytic capital and value-add support through its Venture Success Platform.
Founders Factory, which originally launched in London in 2015, launched African operations in Johannesburg in 2018. The company brought its model to Africa in partnership with Standard Bank, and subsequently secured backing from Netcare to provide a platform for entrepreneurs to build and scale e-health startups across Africa and Small Foundation to invest in agri-tech.
A year ago, it secured an additional US$114 million in funding from Mastercard Foundation and Johnson & Johnson to scale its model to better serve founders across the African tech ecosystem, and it has now rebranded. The new name, 54 Collective, reflects the firm’s ambitious pan-African vision, aspiring to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses to serve all 54 African countries.
“Our catalytic capital and value-add support to founders, through our Venture Success Platform, signifies our evolution and ongoing mission to support entrepreneurs across Africa and enable them to build without boundaries to drive commercial and impact returns. Our name change to 54 Collective communicates our continued commitment to African founders. We are more supportive than ever of unlocking opportunities for entrepreneurs and ensuring a level playing field for youth and women founders,” said 54 Collective CEO Bongani Sithole.
54 Collective offers equity and non-dilutive capital up to a total of US$500,000, enabling founders to scale their ventures across the continent. To break barriers of access, female founders receive an additional US$150,000, to their male counterparts, in the form of a non-dilutive capital.
The Venture Success Platform is made up of a team of highly experienced venture specialists who provide tailored support. This is in the form of product, growth, commercial relationships, business strategy, talent, technology, and data to build ventures for scale.
The team also ensures that founders have access to the right funding by preparing them for investor readiness, investor access, fundraising strategies, unlocking debt and impact capital. The Venture Success Platform empowers founders to succeed globally by facilitating networking and community building opportunities.
