Founders Factory Africa secures $144 million to back more early-stage startups
South Africa-based venture builder, Founders Factory Africa has secured $144 million to scale its hybrid investment model across Africa.
Founders Factory Africa has secured an additional $114 million in funding to scale its hybrid investment model of combining capital and operational support in its investments across the continent.
The investment was made by the Mastercard Foundation and Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures, an impact fund within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.
“We are excited to have new and dynamic funding, which follows on from previous investments into Founders Factory Africa by Standard Bank Group, Small Foundation, and Netcare Group,” says Alina Truhina, co-founder of Founders Factory Africa.
With this funding, Founders Factory Africa intends to double down on its investment model to reach more African tech startups. The venture builder signs equity cheques of about $250,000, it also provides $150,000 in additional equity-free capital.
Since its inception in 2018, Founders Factory Africa has backed over 55 African tech startups, including Mycover ai, OkHi, and Zuri Health.
In a statement seen by Bendada.com, the early-stage investor said the funding will enable it to reemphasise its model by becoming sector-agnostic in its investment with founders who prioritise business fundamentals and will also double down on addressing the gender imbalance in the ecosystem.
Founders Factory Africa also disclosed that it will broaden its capital investment offering to include non-dilutive capital, supporting the continent’s need for different capital deployment types across the venture maturity curve.
The South African-based VC firm also said it will strengthen its internal capacity to continue to provide its portfolio of start-ups with the best venture-building support on the continent.
“Come build with us,” says Founders Factory Africa CEO Bongani Sithole.
“Moving Africa forward requires more of us to support tech-driven, solution-oriented ventures that have the potential to scale and make an impact at speed. Our role as Founders Factory Africa is to provide founders with the funding, knowledge, and hands-on venture-building support they need to achieve commercial success and create outsized, systemic impact.”
