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Choose Africa VC and Digital Africa Seed Fund : the new programmes by Proparco and Digital Africa dedicated to African tech

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Quai des futurs
Quai des futurs - DR

On the occasion of "Quai des Futurs", an event celebrating African tech held alongside Vivatech on 11 June, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Mr Jean-Noël Barrot, reaffirmed France’s support for African entrepreneurship before an audience of 300 entrepreneurs from across the continent. The event also provided an opportunity for Proparco and Digital Africa to respectively launch their two new financing programmes: Choose Africa VC and the Digital Africa Seed Fund.

In France and Europe, we have long believed in innovation and entrepreneurship as engines of growth, but also as bridges between the two shores of the Mediterranean. This evening, all these initiatives, your successes, your energy, are contributing to the redefinition of ties between France and Africa, a process driven by the President of the Republic since 2017. The future of relations between Africa and France lies, above all, in a shift in perspective.

Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs

Choose Africa VC: Proparco’s new venture capital investment programme in Africa

Since 2018, Proparco has invested in over 200 “made in Africa” tech start-ups, including around thirty through direct investments. Building on this experience, it is launching Choose Africa VC, its new venture capital investment programme in Africa. Supported by the European Commission and France, the programme aims to deploy €104 million over the next 3 to 5 years to (i) start-ups operating in Africa and (ii) VC funds backing start-ups operating on the continent. The programme targets start-ups from seed to Series B stage and will be accompanied by €3.1 million in technical assistance provided by the European Commission for the benefit of start-ups invested in both directly and indirectly by Proparco.

With our new European programme Choose Africa VC, led by Proparco and made possible thanks to the support of the European Commission, we will scale up our efforts by investing more than €100 million in equity over the coming years across the African continent – both directly and through venture capital funds. The objective is clear: to help African tech companies scale up, mobilise more private capital, and thus support the emergence of tomorrow’s champions.

Françoise Lombard, Chief Executive Officer of Proparco

Digital Africa SeedFund

The Digital Africa Seed Fund is Digital Africa’s new venture capital investment fund dedicated to seed-stage start-ups, particularly in frontier ecosystems. It is expected to be endowed with €30 million and will invest in around thirty start-ups with average ticket sizes of €300,000. 

I am pleased to see this new fund finally complement our existing Fuzé programme and thus contribute to the emergence of future African champions where they are least expected.

Grégoire de Padirac, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Africa

A structured continuum demonstrating France’s ongoing commitment to African tech entrepreneurs

This structured support for African start-ups enables entrepreneurs to be backed at every stage of their growth. It is built on a continuum of financial and non-financial support offered by the various entities of the group:

  • Digital Africa, the Proparco subsidiary dedicated to pre-seed and seed support
  • Proparco, which supports entrepreneurs and businesses from Series A onwards
  • AFD and Expertise France, which work actively to strengthen ecosystems, develop local skills, and create an enabling environment for innovation