Partech ,a global technology investment firm has announced the first closing of Partech Africa II at €245 million (about $262 million) which makes it the largest Africa-focused fund .
Partech Africa II investors range from DFIs and corporates to African fund 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.
Cyril Collon, general partner at Partech Africa said, “we had set an ambitious goal for Partech Africa II at €230 million, with a hard cap at €280 million , essentially doubling the size of our first fund. We overreached it with a closed amount already above the target fund size.”
Partech Africa II will be utilized to identify and support the next generation of category leaders across the continent. The fund will provide $1 million to $15 million initial tickets from seed to growth to support entrepreneurs who use a combination of technology and excellent operations to address some of the hard-to-solve but very large opportunities the continent offers across all sectors.
In 2018, Partech announced the launch of its Africa-focused strategy with a first fund of €125 million. Today, the portfolio counts 17 companies started in 9 African countries and now operating in 27 countries on the continent.
Building on the first fund’s learnings, Partech Africa will continue to lead and co-lead rounds with a larger ticket range ($1M to 15M), co-investing with the best regional and global players, playing an active role in bringing financial, strategic, and operational support to African founders.
To execute on this strategy, the team, led by Cyril Collon and Tidjane Dème and comprised of Marie Benrubi, Sabrine Chahrour, Lewam Kefela, Matthieu Marchand, based in Dakar, Nairobi, and Dubai, is expanding into new locations. It is augmented by Partech’s robust global platform with 3 members dedicated to Partech Africa: Romane Assou, Léa Gnaly and Alhou Maiga. This platform provides support across key functions such as Business Development & Portfolio Support, Founders Community, ESG, Finance, Compliance, and Legal.
This notable first close marks the launch of Partech Africa II and represents a solid vote of confidence in the African start-up ecosystem. After years of continuous growth, the African continent continue to attract even more global attention and capital.