Casablanca, Morocco, 1st November 2021. — Draper Startup House has opened its first location in Morocco, partnering with KOWORK Anfa Place in Casablanca. With the launch, Draper Startup House expands its presence into Africa in a year when tech startups in the continent raised a record-breaking $1.1 billion through the first eight months of the year. With Google’s recent announcement to invest $1 billion in African tech startups over the next five years, and with North African startups like Chari.ai proving it can raise multimillion-dollar seed rounds from global investors, Draper Startup House recognizes an opportunity to support founders and entrepreneurs in continental Africa as they continue to innovate and build technological solutions at an accelerating pace.
Draper Startup House Morocco brings a global network of resources for local startups to tap into which includes Draper Venture Network’s 24 global funds, as well as Draper Startup House’s own fund. The Casablanca-based team is led by American serial entrepreneur Adam Boujida, who is responsible for Draper Startup House expansion efforts in North Africa and the Middle East.
“We like Morocco as an entry into Africa for a few reasons. It is Africa’s most internet-connected country by percentage with over 84% penetration, and it has a young, growing population, nearly half the country is under the age of 25. We believe these facts position Morocco well to become a global impact player for technology innovations”, said Adam Boujida, CEO of the MENA region for Draper Startup House. “Morocco also benefits from a consistent and stable political environment, drawing on new foreign investments and continued privatization. We attribute these factors to a noticeable increase in deal-flow quality. That is why Draper Startup House is here to accelerate activity between local startups and global investors.”
Vikram Bharati founded Draper Startup House in Singapore in 2018 as Tribe Theory, a concept to serve digital nomads. It is now a global business ecosystem of over 1,000 members in 60 countries who tap into its education, technology services, investment, and community resources. Draper Startup House has physical locations in sixteen countries.
“Through our global business ecosystem, our vision is to help as many young people start and build businesses across the Middle East and North Africa. I’m thrilled that Adam Boujida has joined us on our mission in MENA. I can’t think of anyone better to lead our efforts in the region”, Bharati comments.
Draper Startup house offers startup founders business services, education, and global investment offerings while leaning more on already-established local partners like Kowork for physical space in order to reach its goal of enabling one million entrepreneurs worldwide by 2030.
“Thanks to this partnership and to Draper Startup House’s international experience in creating entrepreneurial communities in emerging markets, we are enriching our high value-added services for all Moroccan startups”, explains Kowork’s General Manager, Reda Layt.
About Draper Startup House, Draper Venture Network, and Tim Draper
Draper Startup House is part of a global network connected to services, education, and investment, with locations in Argentina, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, Singapore, Spain, United States, and Vietnam. It is a unit of the Draper Venture Network, which is among the world’s premier venture capital networks, with thousands of portfolio companies funded globally.
The Draper Venture Network was founded by Timothy Cook Draper, the US venture capital investor. Draper also founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), Draper University, and Draper Associates.
Draper’s most prominent investments include Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, AngelList, Twitter, Coinbase, Robinhood, and Focus Media.
We have one combined vision and mission: ONE MILLION ENTREPRENEURS BY 2030.
About Draper Startup House Ventures
Draper Startup House Ventures is a global syndicate created for the purpose of helping entrepreneurs receive better access to funding while helping to cultivate a network of entrepreneurial growth. If a company is not prepared for funding, its founders get support from the Draper Entrepreneur Network so they can lift their chances. Draper Startup House Ventures provides access to its own venture capital fund, and the ability to submit pitch decks for circulation to the Draper Venture Network, which has 24 global funds.
Sources:
- https://disrupt-africa.com/2021/08/12/more-than-300-african-tech-startups-have-raised-over-1-1bn-so-far-in-2021/
- https://blog-google.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/blog.google/around-the-globe/google-africa/google-for-africa/amp/
- https://chari.ma/
- https://den.draperstartuphouse.com/ventures
- https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/draper-startup-house-ventures-fund-264697/
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamboujida/
- https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/IT.NET.USER.ZS?locations=MA&name_desc=false
- https://kowork.ma/?lang=en