Africa’s largest VC fund closes

Partech secures over $300m in second fund to back African startups and channeling diaspora capital into productive investments in Africa.

Author

Anthony Miclet
February 29, 2024

Hi there. Welcome to another Daba weekly newsletter!

Universal Music is buying Nigeria label Mavin Global—which is home to artists like Rema and Ayra Starr and at the forefront of Africa's Afrobeats movement—in a deal rumored to be worth millions of dollars.

The transaction, which puts a spotlight on the fast-growing but largely under-tapped entertainment sector on the continent, will close by Q3 this year.

In other major stories from the past week:

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Recap: Catch our recent webinar on Diaspora capital

Thanks for joining our webinar on Empowering African Enterprise through Diaspora Investment Capital with Henri Nyakarundi and Jennifer Frimpong. We appreciate your presence and questions! 

If you missed the conversation or would like to watch again, you can catch the recording on our YouTube channel or read the recap article on our website.

And if you are interested in adding African startups and stocks to your investment portfolio, check out the Daba app now to get started.

Here are last week’s top stories

Mixed markets

Bitcoin rally sees crypto cross $57k for the first time since 2021

The price of Bitcoin surged above the $57,000 level on Tuesday, breaking out from a week of subdued trading after surging more than 10% in two sessions thanks to signs of significant institutional buying activity.

Gold ended last week positive but is under pressure ahead of crucial economic releases this week. The upside in the Gold price remains restricted due to the Fed’s hawkish narrative on interest rates, while tensions surrounding the Middle East crisis have capped the downside.

Oil prices slid but rose more than $1 a barrel on Tuesday as sources said OPEC+ is considering extending voluntary oil output cuts into the second quarter to provide additional support. Equities in Africa closed the week green except in Nigeria.

Record raise

Partech secures over $300m in second fund to back African startups

Pan-African VC firm Partech recently concluded the fundraising for its second Africa-focused fund, Partech Africa II, securing €280m ($300mn+) in commitments.

That sees Partech Africa become the largest fund dedicated to startups on the continent. Initially targeting €230m, the fundraising efforts exceeded expectations, reflecting strong investor interest in the African startup ecosystem.

This is even more important against the backdrop of venture capitalists and institutional investors scaling back their investments in Africa amid a global funding crunch.

Robust growth

Senegal’s Sonatel grows profit by over 18% to $550m in 2023

Sonatel, the largest company listed on the BRVM by market capitalization, saw a net income of $550m in 2023, marking an impressive increase of 18.94% compared to the previous year.

This growth was primarily fueled by mobile data, with a 10.1% increase in the number of mobile data users, contributing to a remarkable 20.4% increase in revenue from this segment.

This success of Sonatel, which dominates the markets in Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Guinea-Bissau in terms of market share, can be attributed to significant capex investments.

Headline roundup

A summary of the major business, tech, and finance headlines of the past week.

Macro & Markets

VC Funding & Startups

  • d.light secures $7.4m to finance off-grid solar expansion in Nigeria

  • Hohm Energy gets $8m to scale adoption of solar in South Africa

  • More African fintech IPOs expected on local stock exchanges

Other Deals & Expansion

Funds & Accelerators

Startup Opportunities

Discover funding and accelerator opportunities to boost your startup's growth.

Our insight for the week

Get more context into events shaping Africa’s economic landscape.

Channeling diaspora capital into productive investments in Africa: Remittances from the African diaspora total an estimated $100bn annually, representing a significant source of foreign capital for African economies. 

These funds account for 2-3% of the continent's GDP and support roughly 200m Africans. In some nations like The Gambia, remittances comprise up to 30% of GDP.

As such, there is growing enthusiasm for leveraging these sums for long-term development projects, including infrastructure, business investment, and financing government operations. 

However, effectively channeling remittance inflows into such productive uses remains a challenge. 

How can the continent make it easier for diaspora members to invest directly in African companies and funds? 

How can technology help enable easier investment across borders?

On Tuesday, Daba hosted Henri Nyakarundi and Jennifer Frimpong in a webinar discussion on channeling diaspora capital into African startups and SMEs.

We had a thought-provoking dialogue around channeling diaspora capital into productive investments in African startups and SMEs. Key highlights from the discussion include:

  1. Remittances represent significant stable capital for investing in African companies, however, awareness of opportunities remains low.  

  2. Platforms like Daba expand access and transparency around African investments for diasporans.

  3. Culture and perceptions continue limiting diaspora engagement. Building trust and education are vital.

In case you missed the conversation, you can watch the recording or read the recap article on our website.

And in the next edition of our Pulse54 newsletter, we will be spotlighting platforms - like Daba - already tapping into the huge diaspora potential to help power growth on the continent.

Sign up below to get it directly in your inbox.

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Catch you next week!