AFRICA – Flourish Ventures, a venture capital firm located in the United States, has created Madica, a pan-African investment initiative that intends to provide cash, technological assistance, and coaching to underrepresented entrepreneurs throughout the continent.
The sector-agnostic initiative focuses on pre-seed stage technology firms, which is where most ideas fail.
The initiative has set aside US$6 million for investment in up to 30 African entrepreneurs, with each receiving up to US$200,000 in exchange for ownership. The initial investment period will last three years.
“Although investment is booming on the continent, funds are often disproportionately targeted at a few well-networked entrepreneurs and skewed towards the more prominent tech hub,” said Madica’s head, Emmanuel Adegboye.
“Madica is sector-agnostic and intends to double down on providing hands-on support, extensive resources, access to networks and more. This is why in addition to US$6 million of investment capital, we have reserved an equal amount for programmatic support.
“We encourage founders across the continent to apply for our program. We believe Africans have an unmatched entrepreneurial spirit, and one of Madica’s core goals is to ensure a level playing field for every African founder.”
Madica also stated that it is interested in expanding into underserved areas on the continent, outside of the well-established hubs of Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. This is part of its effort to achieve pan-African reach by assisting local and female innovators.
To be eligible for the programme, founders must be working full-time on their concept, have a minimal viable product, and have received little or no institutional investment. The programme will accept applications and admit candidates on a rolling basis.
Madica also collaborates with AfriLabs, Pariti, the Africa Early-Stage Investor Summit, the CELO Foundation, and Rising Tide to select businesses to help.
Participants will be paired with mentors.
“Madica is an investment in the African venture ecosystem, with the audacious goal of creating a broader systemic shift,” said Ameya Upadhyay, the venture partner at Flourish Ventures, an early-stage fintech VC whose portfolio includes Nigeria’s Flutterwave and Paga.
“Through Madica, we intend to develop a cadre of mentors, create world-class programming, crowd-in follow-on capital and leverage Flourish’s global presence to extend the reach of local networks. These will eventually benefit other participants in the ecosystem — startups, investors, and policymakers.”
“We hope that Madica can help change the narrative around African startups — lower the perception of risk, attract more capital, inspire more founders and garner more media attention.”
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