CÔTE D’IVOIREOrange Côte d’Ivoire, a telecommunication company, has launched a €350 million (US$415m) technological investment fund to promote the growth of innovative startups in the fields of networking and information technology, digital industries, and cybersecurity.

This fund, known as Orange Venture, was announced during an information session and aims to target startups that provide solutions to the Ivorian market’s fundamental challenges as well as promote the emergence of future technological champions at the service of the transition to a more digital and responsible world.

The fund’s administrators emphasize that the startups that will be backed will also benefit from the group’s resources and skills, as well as an international network, to help them expand faster.

Obtaining a business angel can be difficult for startups with a concept that is likely to fail in the future.

The goal of this fund, which has been successful in driving growth in Moja Ride, the first Ivorian startup sponsored by Orange Ventures, is to assist them in maintaining this idea by pushing its operationalization.

The objective of this investment vehicle is to target start-ups offering answers to the fundamental challenges of the Ivorian market and to promote the emergence of future technological champions in the service of the transition to an increasingly digital and responsible world.

The startup ecosystem is dynamic and evolving in Côte d’Ivoire. Entrepreneurs are looking for investors to support their development and it is on the strength of this observation that the Orange group has set up the Orange Ventures fund.

Encouraging innovation, supporting the Ivorian technological scene and promoting local champions, this is the mission that the Orange group wishes to carry through this initiative.

This information session was carried by Orange Fab, the startup accelerator of the Orange group within the Orange Digital Center.