Pacer Ventures, a sub-Saharan Africa venture firm has launched Pacer Labs, a software development lab to support the African digital ecosystem and the growth of forward-looking organisations by harnessing the power of advanced technologies.
Pacer Lab aims to unlock the power of digital transformation in Africa and partner with clients to tackle the toughest challenges and bring ideas to life. Pacer Labs will have experienced designers, engineers and product managers to deliver state-of-the-art products from operations bases in Lagos, Johannesburg, Cairo and Nairobi.
According to Ray Sharma, Chairman, Pacer Labs and Founder, Extreme Venture Partners and XtremeLabs, “Pacer Labs aims to become Africa’s leading software development firm as measured by sales and employees by 2025, leveraging the success of XtremeLabs and a soon-to-be-announced global partner for the success of Pacer Labs and its customers. Africa has risen. Pacer Labs is set to help deliver efficiency and digital transformation.”
Projections indicate that Africa will be the world’s next tech talent center due to the emerging mobile population. This in turn inspires Pacer Labs’ confidence for future markets in Africa, positioning them at the forefront of the push towards maximising the tech talent of the African economy.
The true acceleration potential of the African continent lies in the rapid spread of mobile digital technology, which will help the region in economic development. Mobile technologies and services generated 9% of GDP in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019, representing $155 billion in economic value-added. This figure will reach $184 billion by 2024.
Gbemi Akande, Director, Pacer Labs, speaking on the launch stated “The creation of Pacer Labs is deeply rooted in the organization’s belief in the African continent. Pacer Ventures and Pacer Labs are positioned in such a way that they will help deepen the development of technology in Africa.”
“Pacer Labs will ensure that the development needs of organizations and governments are met in a timely and cost-effective manner, while soon-to-be-launched Pacer University will be another curated platform by Pacer Ventures to equip startups and executives with the required technology skills,” said Geoffrey Weli-Wosu, General Partner at Pacer Ventures and Co-Founder of VoguePay.
This means that the organization will support in solving some of the most critical problems on the continent while facilitating the development of African enterprises, primarily early-stage startups, mid-market enterprises and large corporates through experience design, product development, engineering and digital transformation.
Chukwuemeka Fred Agbata, Regional Director of Founder Institute in Africa and General Partner at Pacer Ventures noted, “It is due to the rapid growth of startups in Africa that world-class development companies like Pacer Labs are born, while Founder Institute will ensure that forward-looking startups are given the opportunity to get access to world-class development tools and resources that will aid their continuous growth.”
