Joining Africa Technology Ventures

One of the gaps in the technology landscape of East Africa and Nigeria is funding for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at seed and early growth stage. As an advisor to startups with a lot of potential and my own angel investing experiences, this gap in financing is one that I would like to tackle and help fill. I met Eline Blaauboer (TBL Mirror Fund; Safaricom Spark Fund; East Africa Venture Capital Association) and Mairead Cahill (Dalberg; M-KOPA; BT) through mutual friends. They are the managing partners of Africa Technology Venture. After several discussions and meetings, we had similar thoughts on what is needed to help propel startups in Africa to the next level and more importantly how I would be able to do my part to fill this gap.

I am delighted to announce that I will be joining Africa Technology Ventures as Venture Partner.

We are raising investment for a $50m venture capital fund (“Africa Technology Ventures” or “ATV”) alongside an enterprise development facility, which will invest in and support the growth of tech enabled start-ups in East Africa and Nigeria; that have the potential to scale and create value in key sectors including Agriculture, Consumer, Education, Energy, Financial Services and Healthcare. The Fund will be based in Nairobi and Lagos and brings together a team of experienced international and local tech entrepreneurs, investors and advisors.

This is an exciting opportunity and one that I am looking forward to learning and growing in. I will be at TED 2016 this week, if you are attending, do ping me via email contact [at] julia [dot] na