AFRICA – Startup Wise Guys (SWG), a European startup accelerator and investment fund completed the first closing on its new fund for African startups of US$9.35 million.
Founded in Tallinn in 2012, Startup Wise Guys (SWG) has helped more than 500 founders bring their startups to the next level.
SWG will invest in a minimum of 30 startups through 2023, after choosing the first batch of startups from more than 300 African startup applications.
The funding will benefit nine selected startups, coming from across the fields of Fintech, Agritech, Edtech, Cleantech, HealthTech, and RetailTech.
The selected startups will each receive a US$71,489 (€65k) ticket for up to a 12% equity stake as well as an intensive four-month mentorship.
Additionally, the nine startups will also have the chance to pitch for follow-on funding of up to US$274,961 (€250k).
As startup investment and venture capital in Africa begin to heat up, there remains a pronounced lack of meaningful support at the very early stage.
Recent attention-grabbing announcements about startup investment in Africa have mostly focused on scale-ups and other larger-scale operations, leaving the earlier stage startups wanting resources.
SWG believes that while there have been incredible success stories in Africa, the African ecosystem could benefit from more support at the very early stages, the exact area where they are experts.
The platform boasts being both first believers and ecosystem catalyzers and works hard to get their startups traction and follow-on investment.
“It is a great privilege for me to be working closely with these nine, multi-talented teams from across Africa and in different verticals,” said Eliud Mungai, Program Managing.
“All entrepreneurs deserve to have an accountability partner and someone that can give an independent opinion and critique their business strategy, which will be my main role.”
The organization has also announced the first batch of startups that have been selected as part of its new, Africans B2B digital SaaS accelerator program.
The nine selected startups include T40 (Nigeria), Zofi Cash (Uganda), KIOTAPAY (Kenya), Nigenius (Nigeria), Dukapepe (Kenya), Cylon Accounting (Namibia), FloodGates (Ghana), FxKUDI (Ghana), Scrapays (Nigeria
To date, Startup Wise Guys have made more than 235 startup investments, seen five exits, and achieved an overall startup survival and success rate above 77%.
Startup Wise Guys manages SaaS accelerator programs out of Milan as well as cyber security accelerator programs from Cosenza.
With a significant additional presence in the Nordics, Poland, Ukraine, Africa, and the Balkans, SWG aims to become the go-to accelerator program for any B2B startup looking to scale globally.
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