Partech Mobilizes $250 Million Targeting African Startups

Silicon Valley-headquartered VC Partech Partners announced that it has managed to raise USD 262.3 million from a broad array of international investors. The fund will target African startups with high growth potential.

Partech Partners is managed by a number of General Partners including Tidjane Deme and Cyril Collon. It is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Dakar, Berlin and Paris with a new office planned in Lagos.

Partech believes the fundamentals for reaping returns from investments in hi-tech companies in Africa are still in place despite the numerous challenges still plaguing the global economy.

The African Tech Ecosystem has continued to grow in 2022, despite a global economic crisis and a dramatic slowdown in the venture capital landscape. Funding for the African sector grew +8% to US$6.5B, through 764 rounds, with debt funding doubling in the year (+102% to US$1.5B in 71 rounds) to compensate for a slight decline in equity rounds (-6% to US$4.9B in 693 rounds). Clearly, the deep forces driving growth of the African Tech Ecosystem have prevailed against the headwinds.

Extract from Partech Africa Report

Since 1Q22, Partech has been working on its 2nd investment fund for African startups, called Partech Africa 2. Its objective was to raise USD 250 million, or double the amount of Partech Africa 1. The new fund will pursue the same strategy initiated by the highly successful Partch Africa 1 Fund but plans to extend into new markets.

Partech targets startups in #FinTech, HealthTech, EdTech, Logistics among others. Its backers include private and institutional investors such as International Finance Corporation, European Investment Bank, British International Investment, KfW, Proparco, Bertelsman as well as HNWI and Family Offices.

“Partech will work along side regional and global stakeholders to play an active role in supporting African techpreneurs financially, strategically and operationally.”

Partech General Partner Cyril Collon

For the record, Partech Africa 1 was launched in 2018 and managed to raise about USD 125 million from about forty tech-savvy investors. In the last two years, Partech has also launched a USD 750 million Growth Fund and a USD 100 million Seed Fund aimed at various sectors and markets globally.