Partech, the global Venture Capital firm, has announced the first close of Partech Africa II at €245 million.
The investors in Partech Africa II included: DFIs and corporates to African funds of funds, family offices and HNIs, including anchor investor KfW, the German Development Bank. Others are existing and new LPs, including Bpifrance Investissement; the International Finance Corporation (IFC), South Suez; FMO; Bertelsmann; European Investment Bank (EIB); British International Investment (BII); Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (DEG); and Proparco.
Partech Africa II is a follow-up to Partech Africa I, the first fund which was announced in 2018 and closed at $143 million. The firm, which focuses on early- and growth-stage startups planned to raise about €230 million (~$250 million) for its second African fund and reach a first close at €150 million, according to general partners Tidjane Deme and Cyril Collon.
But, overwhelming interest from LPs meant Partech Africa II surpassed what was initially set for the entire fund at first close. As a result, the African fund will now seek to reach a final close of not more than €280 million (~$300 million) according to Deme.
Partech’s first African fund invested in 17 startups at Series A and B stages across nine countries that operate in 27. According to Deme, that fund’s strategy was to back particular startups going after deep economic sectors that are usually highly fragmented and informal in Africa “with many inefficiencies where bringing a tech platform with robust operations can build something that creates a lot of value.”
TradeDepot, Wave, Yoco, Reliance and Nomba are among the startups Partech has invested in so far. They cut across fintech, retail and FMCG, agency banking, and health tech, sectors responsible for most of Africa’s employment and economic activity. These startups are capitalising on increasing access to digital infrastructure and rising consumer and business demand. According to Partech Africa, its portfolio has brought value to over a million merchants and 20 million end users across the continent.
“We do invest in late-seed. So when we say $1 million, it’s also because we can go earlier. Also, we will keep working on ensuring that we can preempt talented teams very early on and not necessarily wait till they are fundraising,” Collon said. “Connecting with the market and entrepreneurs as we have done with fund I is essential for fund II’s success.”
The firm intends to deploy its capital in more than 20 startups from Fund II. It’s one of the most significant Africa-focused growth-stage funds, including TLcom Capital, Norrsken22, Algebra Ventures, and Novastar Ventures. The team, distributed across offices in Dakar, Nairobi, and Dubai, is expanding into new locations; Lagos is one. And its operations are augmented by Partech’s robust global platform, which supports crucial functions such as business development and portfolio support, founders community, ESG, finance, compliance, and legal.
