HAVAÍC’s African Innovation Fund 3 reaches third close
South African impact investor E Squared Investments joins Fund 3.
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Cape Town-headquartered venture capital (VC) firm HAVAÍC has announced the third close of its $50 million African Innovation Fund 3.
Fund 3 has secured more than $30 million in commitments following the entry of South African impact investor E Squared Investments.
“HAVAÍC’s track record of backing African innovation that translates into sustainable, real-world outcomes strongly reflects our investment philosophy,” says Pyi Maung, chief investment officer at E Squared. “Their combination of capital and strategic support enables Africa-born startups to scale responsibly and access global markets, which aligns closely with E Squared’s focus on long-term value creation.”
E Squared joins existing cornerstone investors Fireball Capital, Universum Wealth, the SA SME Fund and Sanlam Multi-Manager.
To date, Fund 3 has deployed $10 million in eight companies. Recent investments include SAPay, the Johannesburg-based fintech digitising minibus taxi fares, and Stellenbosch-born fraud-prevention fintech Entersekt.
Recent follow-on investments include additional investment in sports data and analytics platform Sportable and international calling app Talk360. Earlier Fund 3 investments saw Pan-African payments platform NjiaPay and livestock trading platform SwiftVEE join HAVAÍC’s portfolio of African technology startups. Earlier follow-on investments include RNR App, RapidDeploy, hearX Group and AURA.
Ian Lessem, managing partner at HAVAÍC, said: “We look forward to accelerating our portfolio’s impact with the support of E Squared’s investment and doubling down on our strategy to grow local innovation by unlocking international markets. As evidenced by our portfolio companies’ growth and enduring positive returns, the African VC industry has the talent, technology and opportunities to catalyse sustainable job creation and social empowerment on the continent. This is where investors with a strong appetite for creating impact should be deploying their capital.”
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