AfricInvest, a leading multi-asset investment platform in Africa alongside Cathay Innovation have completed their joint Pan-African Venture fund named Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF) at $112 million.
AfricInvest was created in 1994 and it aims at strengthening the private equity and venture ecosystem in Africa, also Cathay Innovation was created in 2015 and is a venture capital firm that focuses on empowering entrepreneurs with the support of a global ecosystem across the world.
Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Capital Fund (CAIF)
The fund, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Capital Fund (CAIF) is a collaboration between AfricInvest and Cathay Innovation which is expected to be used to invest in Africa’s most promising startups at the growth stage. The fund is supported by a lot of renowned LPs such as:
EIB
AfricaGrow
FMO
Bpifrance
Triodos Investment Management
Proparco
SIFEM
BIO, Etc.
They also have the support of various investors among which include Development Finance Institutions, Leading Multinational Corporations, and top individuals across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
This Collaboration between AfricInvest and Cathay Innovation (CAIF) has been on since 2019 and it has helped 10 startups to become top players in their various fields such as 54gene, OZE, Migo, Heetch, KaiOS, Aerobotics, Whereismytransport, Boomplay, and Palmpay.
What They Are Saying About The Partnership Between AfricInvest and Cathay Innovations
In a statement, the Partner at AfricInvest and Co-head of Cathay Innovations, Yassine Oussaifi, said: “AfricInvest’s partnership with Cathay innovation brings to Africa global expertise in the innovation space combined with a robust network in Europe, Asia, and the US, all helping to build bridges between Africa and the rest of the world, allowing the fund’s investees to grow into regional and global champions”.
Also, in a statement, the founder of Cathay Capital and Cathay Innovation, Mingpo Cai, said: “As technology scales and brings massive upgrades to global populations, startups are critical in building the new digital infrastructure needed for emerging regions like Africa to redefine industries and society in the 21st century.
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We are proud to partner with the AfricInvest team- connecting the entire African continent with the tech hubs around the world- in a shared mission of accelerating the transition to a more digital, sustainable, and inclusive economy for Africa and beyond’.
To do a lot of functions like creating synergies, providing local hands-on support, and assisting with the geographical expansion the CAIF depends on AfricInvest’s rich investment expertise which is an extensive pool of resources from its network and its physical presence which is spread across major cities in Africa such as Algiers, Tunis, Cairo, Lagos, Nairobi, Etc.
CAIF has been able to help a lot of promising ventures to build and scale innovative technologies that are crucial in advancing inclusive socio-economic growth in Africa and it has been able to reach over 21 markets in Africa.
The companies which the fund has helped haven’t failed as over 136 million Africans were reached with inclusive and digital solutions which implies that per $1 spent over 2 people are impacted and it has been able to create over 1,400 jobs for women consisting of 35%.
The fund doesn’t look to be slowing down on its aim as it has continued to support African entrepreneurs to scale their innovative technologies across Africa and the world in general.
In a statement, the Senior Partner at AfricInvest and Co-founder of CAIF, Khaled Ben Jilani, said: “The Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund was born out of the idea that innovative and tech-enabled startups in Africa are solving important problems and socio-economic gaps.
We see this funding opportunity as a means to deliver strategic support to the outstanding startups looking to innovate and improve lives in Africa. Already, CAIF has reached over 100 million people through job creation and inclusion, but there are still millions of people across the continent with limited resources on our radar”.
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With it being the largest early- to growth-stage Pan-African innovation fund, this closing of the final rounds of funding will aid it to double down its efforts to focus on innovative and scalable post-revenue ventures based in or about Africa.
Benefits of Digital Solutions in business
The arrival of technology has helped to simplify some tasks which we considered strenuous more efficiently and productively, everyone especially business owners have benefitted from the evolution of technology as it has made things easier, more comfortable, and flexible for them.
The digital revolution which has started and is becoming a trend for business owners has opened the doors to various opportunities that traditional methods were not able to offer, here are the benefits that digital solutions have provided to our businesses:
1) Brings about productivity:
In every business productivity is a very crucial aspect to look out for because it aids the business to have a clear understanding of how the market is saturated and your target audience. With technology, some tasks will be done by AI that will eliminate human errors and is more efficient which will ensure the smooth running of the business.
2) Increased Revenue:
When your productivity is high automatically your revenue will scale up because with the aid of technology you will identify your target market which will help you increase sales and get your desired results. A lot of processes will be done faster and more efficiently with technology than with humans who are slower and error-prone.
3) Effortless Marketing:
Before the traditional method of advertising and marketing was used which was strenuous and sometimes not profitable but with the aid of social-blogging platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram which has over billions of users daily, people can just upload their products online and the AI technology will help you to get them to your target audience hence more sales and revenue.
4) Customer Service:
Previously Physical surveys through questionnaires had to be used to know the customer feedback about a product that wasn’t efficient but with the aid of technology, customers can now lay their complaints online directly to the company with ease.
