Photos: YouTube Screenshots
US venture capital firm Endeavor Catalyst plans to increase its investments in Africa over the next half decade, potentially doubling the share of African startups in its portfolio at a time when the pace of deals on the continent is slowing.
The New York-based firm, with over half a billion dollars in assets, has made 40 investments in Africa since 2017 — a quarter of which have been in fintech, most notably in South Africa’s Tymebank, and Nigeria’s Flutterwave and Moniepoint.
All three were valued at over $1 billion in their most recent funding rounds. About 8% of its global investments are in Africa, but Allen Taylor, a founding Endeavor Catalyst partner who manages the fund, told Semafor he expects that share to double as digital adoption and tech talent grow on the continent.
“We are going to be doing a lot more investing here because this is where growth is coming from,” Taylor said on a recent visit to Nigeria.
Read on for why Endeavor is backing African startups. →
