AfricArena and FMO, the Dutch Entrepreneurial Development Bank, are expanding their partnership through the FMO Ventures Program to support Africa’s fast-growing tech ecosystem.
After an initial year of partnering in 2022 on AfricArena’s Tour across the continent, FMO Ventures Program is once again supporting AfricArena’s events, namely: the AfricArena VC Unconference, the AfricArena Founders’ Bootcamp,
the AfricArena Learning Expedition and the AfricArena Summit for the period spanning August 2023 – December 2024.
“We are very excited about this expanded partnership which supports the ecosystem development of AfricArena through its well known events across Africa,” said AfricArena CEO Christophe Viarnaud. “This partnership will contribute significantly to the development of the African VC industry through its VC Unconferences, and the development of open source investment tools for the African tech industry with the support of the Digital Collective Africa, a community for investors.”
According to a Statista report*, there are over 640 tech hubs in Africa, which serve as the continent’s backbone for its rapidly growing tech ecosystem that is attracting investors from within Africa and globally. There has been a huge influx of interest in the last few years from investors, angel investors, venture capitalists, venture funds, corporate funds, development finance and startups in what Africa’s tech ecosystem has to offer, and this interest shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
“It is a thrilling time for investors to be looking at Africa as an investment destination, as many of the continent’s tech startups are coming forward with investment-worthy innovative solutions for global challenges,” says FMO Ventures Program Manager, Marieke Roestenberg
“Our partnership with AfricArena is a good fit with FMO Ventures Program’s broader strategy to support the development of entrepreneurial tech ecosystems across Africa. By bringing together tech startups, corporations, angel investors, venture capitalists and other institutional investors we aim to foster co-investment and collaboration that benefits the underserved on the African continent .”