Flat6Labs launches Venture Capital Fund to Expand Impact in Africa

MENA’s leading seed investor, Flat6Labs has announced the launch of a new US$95 million Seed Fund to nurture the growth and development of early-stage tech startups on the African continent. 

Ramez El-Serafy and Dina el-Shenoufy, the fund’s general partners, will oversee the ASF.

Over the course of the next five years, the fund will invest in more than 160 early-stage startups in the African technology sector, with a focus on impactful industries like HealthTech, FinTech, EdTech, GreenTech, AgriTech, ClimateTech, and others that use information technologies to address social and environmental challenges and accelerate digital inclusion.

The Africa Seed Fund (ASF), with headquarters in Egypt, will concentrate on three key investment regions in Africa: North Africa, West Africa, and East Africa. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, and Senegal are a few of the new countries that Flat6Labs will be expanding into.

The huge infusion of funding from the ASF has the potential to assist more than 1,200 founders with 20% female participation, produce more than US$700M in revenue, and create more than 14,000 employment.

General Partner for ASF, Ramez El-Serafy, said, “We are extremely excited about the launch of the Africa Seed Fund. Africa is one of the most exciting regions to invest in tech and innovation, with huge untapped potential and unique business opportunities. We will leverage our experience and knowledge to guide the startup founders to create truly scalable, investment-ready, Africa-based companies.”

In order to help portfolio entrepreneurs launch and expand their businesses, Flat6Labs’ Africa Seed Program offers startup capital, local business support, access to a network of seasoned local mentors, and logistical and regulatory assistance. 

With a hybrid strategy that combines virtual components that enable cohort connections across the whole fund region with real on-the-ground interactions in local marketplaces, the programme also adapts to be regional.

The first investments in the selected startups are planned to be made before the end of 2023.

Another General Partner for ASF, Dina el-Shenoufy, also stated, “The Africa Seed Fund is well-positioned to be a catalyst for driving long-term positive change that the youth of Africa really deserve, and to providing resources to the brightest of them, while accelerating the future of the African continent. The program is designed to provide entrepreneurs with the resources that they need to be able to grow and to scale-up their businesses to new heights.”

“We have observed that the entrepreneurial market has matured over the years with a new wave of founders that are more experienced. We will also cater for these founders and offer higher ticket sizes to support these companies and a different track to the program.” 

The fund will invest in more than 160 early-stage startups over the next five years that operate in the technology sector in Africa.  The Egyptian Agricultural Innovation Project (AIP), the Scaling Digital Agricultural Innovations through Start-ups project, the GIZ on behalf of the German Government, and Flat6Labs initiative (SAIS) all contributed to the establishment of the Africa Seed Fund (ASF) (SAIS).