In 2019, 243 African tech start-ups raised a total of $2.02bn in equity through 250 rounds, representing a 74% growth year-on-year, according to Partech Africa.
Helios Investment Partners has received a Certified B Corporation (B Corp) status that recognizes the firm’s long-standing commitment to sustainability and responsible business practices
Capria, the largest network of emerging market fund managers, has said it would be investing up to $20m in existing members and 2-3 new funds to capitalize on the budding entrepreneurial ecosystems of the African region.
Mediterrania Capital Partners, a Private Equity firm focused on growth investments for SMEs and mid-cap companies in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, has announced the highly positive performance of the four Mediterrania Capital III (MC III) portfolio companies: TGCC, Cairo Scan, Groupe Cofina and Aziza.
The East African Venture Capital Association (EAVCA) in partnership with Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa) and International Finance Corporation (IFC) have launched an investment guide to enable regional pension schemes to invest in Private Equity (PE) Funds.
The latest RisCura-SAVCA South African Private Equity Performance Report indicates that prospects for the local private equity industry are looking up, with the ten-, five-, and three-year ZAR internal rate of returns (IRRs) having improved from 13.2%*, 12.2%* and 7.0%* in Q4 2018 to 14.5%, 12.8% and 8.2% in Q1 2019, respectively.
The Southern African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (SAVCA), in partnership with First National Bank (FNB) and the SA SME Fund as lead sponsors, has launched a Fund Manager Development Programme (FMDP) with the aim of increasing the number of female- and black-owned and managed fund managers.
African fundraising for the first half of 2019 reached $1.7bn in final closes and $0.9bn in interim closes, according to the African Private Equity Data Tracker, released by the the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA).
responsAbility Investments AG, an impact asset manager, has closed a $175m securitization of loans to microfinance and SME-finance institutions in emerging markets.
Actis has assumed the management rights on Abraaj Private Equity Fund IV (APEF IV), a global buyout fund, and Abraaj Africa Fund III (AAF III), a fund for investment in Sub-Saharan Africa.
BlueOrchard Finance has become among the first signatories to the Operating Principles for Impact Management, a market standard for impact investing initiated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group.
Themis, an Africa-focussed power company backed by Denham Capital, has partnered with Kingline Development Nigeria (Kingline) to develop a 550MW natural gas-fired power plant in Ondo State, Nigeria.
While private equity has historically been more prevalent in Africa than private credit, the latter encompasses a range of strategies that can provide attractive alternative financing options for African small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Despite the flux in many African markets over the past few years, the number of PE-backed IPOs in both African and global stock exchanges have remained relatively constant.
