Pan-African VC Janngo Capital makes first close of €60 million fund

Oluwajuwonlo Afolabi -

Janngo Capital, a Pan Africa investment firm focusing on closing the gender gap in the business and entrepreneurship space in Africa, has hit the first close of its €60 million fund, to deploy to African startups with high impacts.

  • The VC received €15 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB), €10.5 million from investors like the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and Boost Africa, €34 million from Proparco, Burda Principal Investments (BPI), Muller Medien, and others, with a look to close the fund in 2023.
  • It aims to invest the Startup Fund in startups that enable Africans to improve their access to essential goods and services and African small and medium-sized businesses to improve their access to market and capital, to create jobs at scale, focusing on women and youth.
  • According to Fatoumata Bâ, founder and executive chair of Janngo, the firm will invest in up to 25 companies, taking about 15-30% of the companies' ownership. The firm aims to deploy €50,000 and €150,000 for seed or pre-Series A, and between €150,000 and €1.5 million for other stages. It looks to deploy between €1.5 million and €5 million to growth-stage startups.
  • Janngo Capital's investment is sector-agnostic. In that, the VC had previously deployed funds to varying sectors in Anglophones and Francophone startups including healthcare, logistics, fintech services, retail, food, agriculture, and mobility. Its first fund invested in 11 tech startups in Africa, it claims.
  • Janngo works to close a $42 billion funding gap that women founders and female-led startups face in Africa. So the VC is deploying 50% of its current fund to startups founded, co-founded, or benefitting women in Africa.
  • With a current portfolio of 56% female-founded and led startups, Janngo does not only invest in female-led startups but extends to other impact-making businesses. It aims to foster gender equality in funding startups on the continent. Its portfolio includes Sabi, a B2B e-commerce platform that is female-led, Expensya, a fintech startup and Jexport, an online freight marketplace, male-founded.