Botswana launches $64M fund

Botswana Tech Fund has launched a $64 million venture vehicle to back startups from pre-seed to growth stage across Southern Africa. (africa.businessinsider.com) The fund’s first deployment phase is about $6.4 million, including roughly $1.3 million for pre-seed founders and two to four growth-stage investments through primary and secondary deals. Launch Africa Ventures is serving as investment adviser for phase one, and Pula Investments is the anchor investor. (africa.businessinsider.com) Botswana Tech Fund’s own site says it will invest in companies building the “software application layer” on top of Africa’s digital infrastructure, with a focus on Southern Africa and operations based in Gaborone. The site says the fund is set up to support founders from early-stage product building through later regional expansion. (botswanatech.com) The launch adds a new pool of private capital in a region that still captures a small share of African venture funding. Botswana Tech Fund says Southern Africa gets 18% of African venture capital flows, while South Africa attracts 95% of that regional total. (botswanatech.com) The regional pitch is scale. The Southern African Development Community has 16 member states, and Botswana Tech Fund’s backers are pitching Botswana as a base for companies trying to sell across that wider market. (sadc.int) The fund is also being marketed on Botswana’s domestic profile. Business Insider Africa reported internet penetration in Botswana at around 80%, and Launch Base Africa said the country ranks in Africa’s top five on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. (africa.businessinsider.com) (launchbaseafrica.com) The team behind the vehicle is drawing from outside Botswana’s startup scene as well. Launch Base Africa reported that Martin Davis, the former chief executive of London-listed Molten Ventures, is managing the fund, while Florence Bavanandan of Launch Africa Ventures is serving as general partner. (launchbaseafrica.com) The new vehicle arrives weeks after Botswana Innovation Fund, a government-backed financing institution, launched a 12-month programme for 10 climate and digital technology startups. That programme can feed qualifying companies toward Scalar International’s $150 million Africa Decarbonisation Fund I. (disruptafrica.com) Taken together, the two launches show Botswana trying to build more than an accelerator pipeline. One pool is aimed at startup formation and investor readiness, while the new Botswana Tech Fund is aimed at writing larger checks as companies move from first product to regional scale. (disruptafrica.com) (africa.businessinsider.com)