The 5 most popular stories on Africa Private Equity News this week
Here are summaries of the five most widely read stories this week on Africa Private Equity News.
1. DPI raises mammoth Africa fund
Development Partners International (DPI), an investment firm focused on Africa, announced that its African Development Partners III Fund (ADP III), has exceeded its $800 million target, and is set to hold a final close at $900 million, with an additional $250 million of dedicated co-investment capital. This brings a total of $1.15 billion for investments on the continent. The fundraising establishes ADP III as one of the largest funds dedicated to investing global capital in Africa.
2. AfricInvest in Nigerian insurance deal
AfricInvest, a pan-African asset management platform covering private equity, venture capital, and private credit, has acquired a minority stake in the Nigerian insurance company Royal Exchange General Insurance Company (REGIC). The investment was made through its evergreen private equity fund, FIVE (Financial Inclusion Vehicle), in the form of a subscription to a capital increase.
REGIC, one of the largest non-life insurance companies in Nigeria, was established in 2008, as part of the longstanding Nigerian group, Royal Exchange Plc, which has been operating for more than a century. FIVE has joined the shareholding of REGIC alongside the Royal Exchange Group and the InsuResilience Investment Fund (IIF), managed by global impact investing firm BlueOrchard Finance Ltd.
3. Adiwale Partners closes first fund at €60m
Adiwale Partners has announced the final close of its first fund, Adiwale Fund I, LP (AF1) at €60 million. The fund has attracted the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for its final closing. The investor group therefore includes CDC Group, the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF), Kuramo Capital Management, Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD) and IFC.
Adiwale Fund I will invest €3-8 million per transaction, mainly in the form of growth capital to SMEs, established primarily in Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. Key investment themes for the fund are: rising incomes and changing consumer behaviours, the expansion of the local supply chains, import substitution and backward integration. Sectors of focus include: FMCG, health and education; business services (transport & logistics, IT, construction-related services, etc); and manufacturing (chemicals and pharmaceuticals).
4. Knife Capital announces new investment
Stone Three, a South Africa based industry 4.0 solution business that combines expert services with the power of machine learning, this week secured expansion capital from venture capital firm Knife Capital.
The company’s end-to-end solutions for AI-augmented digital productivity, health and workplace safety include software offerings that scale at the enterprise level, contain advanced machine learning, video analytics, healthcare technologies and deep domain knowledge. The business has been self-funded to date by operations and shareholders.
5. 1K1V seals third technology investment
One Thousand & One Voices (1K1V), a private equity firm that invests in sub-Saharan Africa with an exclusive limited partners (LP) base of family offices, announced a R200 million (approximately $13.5 million) investment for a minority stake in Digital Ecosystems (DigiCo), an investment holding company that provides integrated technology services to the telecommunications sector as well as various SaaS platforms. This investment marks 1K1V’s second investment in the technology space this year and the third technology investment in its portfolio.
DigiCo operates at the intersection between digital technology and telecommunications. The company enables the rapid rollout of mobile-mediated sales, financial services, banking, couponing, gaming, loyalty programmes and a myriad of other payment tender methods. DigiCo’s technologies and products enable a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) service, agnostic to any phone type or any mobile operator. The company operates in 22 countries across the globe with six subsidiaries in the digital space which include: Airvantage, M4Jam and PayMeNow (mobile financial services); Hyve Mobile and Viamedia (VAS infotainment) and Cellfind (integrated communications), to name a few.
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