Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund announces final close at €110m

AfricInvest, a multi-asset investment platform in Africa, and global venture capital firm Cathay Innovation, have completed the final close of their joint pan-African venture fund, Cathay AfricInvest Innovation Fund (CAIF), at €110 million. The fund is backed by LPs such as EIB, AfricaGrow, FMO, Bpifrance, Triodos Investment Management, Proparco, SIFEM and BIO, among others.

With the close of the fund, the CAIF team will significantly deepen their focus on investing in the most promising early to growth-stage start-ups improving African lives with disruptive tech-enabled products and services. With initial cheque sizes ranging from €1-10 million for growth-stage and up to €1 million for select seed-stage tickets, the fund invests in start-ups across multiple sectors, including fintech, mobility, healthtech, edtech, AI, digital content and agtech. Since its inception in October 2019, CAIF has backed 10 prominent companies operating across the continent, including 54gene, OZÉ, Migo, PalmPay, Heetch, KaiOS, Boomplay, Aerobotics, and WhereIsMyTransport. Most recently, the fund co-led Tunisia-based edtech startup GoMyCode’s $8 million series A round.

“AfricInvest’s partnership with Cathay Innovation brings to Africa global expertise in the innovation space combined with a robust network in Europe, the US and Asia, all helping to build bridges between Africa and the rest of the world, allowing the fund’s investees to grow into regional and global champions,” said Yassine Oussaifi, partner at AfricInvest and co-head of CAIF.

“As technology scales and brings massive upgrades to global populations, start-ups are critical in building the new digital infrastructure needed for emerging regions like Africa to redefine industries and society in the 21st century. We’re proud to partner with the AfricInvest team – connecting the entire African continent with tech hubs around the world – in a shared mission of accelerating the transition to a more digital, sustainable and inclusive economy for Africa and beyond,” added Mingpo Cai, founder and chairman of Cathay Capital and Cathay Innovation.

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