Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund

Equity : May 2021

BIO has invested EUR 6 M in Equity in the Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund Ltd, a Pan African SME Fund.

Amount

€ 6,000,000.00

Type of investment

Equity

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Private sector consolidation/innovation

Beneficiary locations

Middle East & North Africa: Egypt

Sub-Saharan Africa: Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa

Investment field

Investment Companies & Funds

Activity

KK.64.300 SME Fund

Organisation

Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund

Website

https://www.africinvest.com/

Domicile

Mauritius

More investments in

Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund

Equity € 4,000,000.00 (2021)

Cathay Africinvest Innovation Fund is a Venture Capital fund aiming to support innovative businesses addressing socioeconomic gaps across Africa through equity investments from seed to growth stage.

As a partnership between fund managers Africinvest and Cathay Innovation, the fund combines both African and global resources and networks, enabling it to address and add value to a sizeable and increasing pipeline of disruptive investment opportunities with African to global footprints. The Fund targets both (i) Africa based innovation ventures that are scaling their activities in Africa and/or beyond and (ii) internationally based innovation ventures that are developing their activities across Africa.

Development impacts

Local economic growth
Provide capital funding to innovative, highly scalable companies, creating jobs in the digital sector to multiple African countries, including the least developed countries
Private sector consolidation/innovation
Support the emergence of a digital economy in Africa, by enabling success stories on the continent, in turn reinforcing the African VC ecosystem and creating a virtuous innovation cycle.
Support the emergence of a digital economy in Africa, by enabling success stories on the continent, in turn reinforcing the African VC ecosystem and creating a virtuous innovation cycle.

Made possible through this investment

Thanks to the direct funding from BIO, the following second-line investments have been made possible.

54gene

Nigeria

54gene is a health technology company centered on advancing the field of African genomics to unlock scientific discoveries as well as improve diagnostic and treatment outcomes within Africa and the global community.

Aerobotics

South Africa

Aerobotics is a South African company that develops a machine learning technology using high resolution and multi-dimensional sensing imagery from drones and satellites to provide tree specific insights with information on tree count, size, health and chlorophyll levels.

GoMyCode

Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal

GoMyCode is an educational platform that trains talents on digital skills and connects them with tech opportunities around the world.

Heetch

Algeria, Morocco, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal

Heetch is a ride-sharing app targeted at late night transportation seekers, offering an alternative to taxis.

Kaios

KaiOS Technologies powers an emerging global ecosystem of affordable digital products and services. Its mobile operating system enables a new category of lite phones and other IoT devices that provides a rich user experience with limited memory requirements, is the leading mobile OS for smart feature phones, and the third largest after Android and iOS.

Migo

Nigeria

Migo is a cloud-based platform that enables companies to offer credit to their customers, augmenting traditional bank and payment card infrastructure.

Ozé

Ghana

OZÉ is a fintech platform that equips small business owners in Africa to make data-driven decisions to improve their performance, tap into networks, and access the capital they need to grow.