2023-12-19 23:11:03
The hunt for investments for African start-ups. Fundraising has declined significantly this year, as in the rest of the world. Investments fell further in the second half. How to find capital to grow? Meeting of African startupers during the Emerging Valley forum held in Marseille in November 2023.
From our correspondent returning from Bentiu,
Doudou Tamba displays a broad smile. The young Senegalese pharmacist-chemist presents his innovation. A natural mosquito repellent which has received marketing authorization in France.
A constantly progressing environment
Doudou Tamba’s start-up, labeled French Tech, has relied on a Marseille incubator since 2019, useful for finding financing: “ Investors often overshadow innovation. As long as there is no proof of market, there is no investor. But it’s true that with support like that offered here, we still manage to have products that reach maturity. The goal behind it is to perpetuate this north-south cooperation through this type of innovative project. »
Certainly, the stratospheric fundraising of the post-Covid years is no more. Of course, African entrepreneurs still lack financing. But Malick Diouf, creator of LAfricaMobile, very involved in Senegal’s tech ecosystem, insists on one point, it is progressing: “ The investment environment has evolved so much that today’s players, today’s startupers, do not realize what was there 10 years ago. I spoke with a young startuper who complained about the fact, after winning a prize of 20 million CFA francs – the equivalent of 30,000 euros – that we were going to give him that in installments and that it was going to delay his project. At the time, when we started, I remember the first prize I won in Senegal, it was €2,000. It was huge at the time. »
Investors more sensitive to human capital
Cynoia is a Franco-Tunisian start-up that offers digital solutions to small and medium-sized businesses. Headed by Nasreddine Riahi, he has just raised 850 million euros. He explains to us what appealed to investors: “ It’s true that there is less and less money to give to start-ups. Venture capital is over, and now they invest more in people than in “succes stories”. My investors always tell me: “We invested in Nasreddine, himself, with his team”. It was really a path strewn with pitfalls, it wasn’t easy at all. But we were still able to convince people to put in a big ticket. »
Four countries: Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa and Egypt still capture the majority of investments. But according to a recent report from the StartupBlink firm, Senegal and Mauritius have made the strongest progress on the continent this year.
Also listenWhy start-ups in Africa are struggling
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