Invest Africa and Untapped Global partner to boost investment into African tech
Invest Africa, the leading business and investment platform for African markets, and Untapped Global, a connector of frontier market innovators and global investors, have this week announced a partnership aimed at facilitating investment into African tech startups.
The partnership will bring Invest Africa’s network of investors to Untapped’s investment platform “The Nest”, a monthly online event series offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their startups to a global audience of angel investors. Since its inception in April 2020, over 30 episodes of The Nest has connected over 60 founders from over a dozen countries to 50+ global investors, resulting in $2M in investment commitments.
Despite the disruption to global investment flows caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa’s tech start-ups raised a record breaking $2.4 billion in 2020, according to Briter Bridges. As businesses and consumers alike accelerate their uptake of digital solutions, Africa’s tech sector will play a key role in Africa’s recovery. The Nest x Invest Africa pitch sessions will provide innovators tackling some of the region’s most pressing social and economic challenges with the opportunity to scale their solutions through investment and network building. The Nest’s monthly sessions will focus on the high-impact and high-growth sectors including health-tech, cryptocurrency, fintech, logistics and edu-tech.
Karen Taylor, CEO of Invest Africa said, “The tech sector has a key role to play in driving Africa’s socio-economic development and, as the leading business platform for the region, Invest Africa is committed to supporting the continent’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Invest Africa represents over 400 companies from private equity firms, development finance institutions, family offices, venture capital funds, private investors to multinationals. We are excited to be partnering with The Nest to connect our members to opportunities in the tech sector and support the development of innovation across healthcare, financial services, agriculture, logistics and education.”
Lundie Strom, Global Partnerships lead for The Nest, commented, “The Nest has become an amazing platform for founders in emerging markets to access funding, but just as importantly, to also receive high-level feedback from industry experts in different markets, get experience pitching in front of a global audience, and gain international exposure and brand recognition. We’re excited to have the Invest Africa team supporting the series and look forward to getting more eyes on the African tech space this year.”
You can register to join The Nest Online on February 18th and monthly at bit.ly/untappedthenest.
More about Untapped
Based in San Francisco with teams in East Africa, West Africa, the Caribbean, and Europe, Untapped Global is reshaping profitable investing in frontier markets. On a mission to empower the next billion entrepreneurs to scale to their full potential, Untapped creates opportunity by connecting frontier market innovators to global investors through its online and in-person platforms: The Nest and Untapped Invest. The Nest is a monthly event taking place both in-person and online, where start-ups and entrepreneurs showcase their offerings to angel investors around the world, while Untapped Invest is a Smart Asset Financing™ platform enabling global investors to tap into the $4T opportunity in the fastest-growing economies.
More about Invest Africa
Invest Africa is a leading business and investment platform, using over sixty years’ experience in Africa to provide its members with unique information and exposure to business opportunities. Headquartered in London, Invest Africa also operates from three additional chapter cities: Johannesburg, New York and Dubai.
Our vision is to play a central and influential role in Africa’s socio-economic growth by guiding sustainable capital towards key prospects on the continent. As a trusted entry point into Africa, we support and connect business and investment through a unique range of services and events. We believe that a responsible and profitable private sector has a crucial role to play in Africa’s development and aim to connect businesses across Africa to support entry-level participants into the African investment ecosystem.
Press contacts:
Invest Africa: eleanor.brown@investafrica.com
Untapped: lundie@untapped-global.com
