HAVAÍC Archives - AfricaBusiness.com

14May

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Kenya News, Startups

Why a wave of technology giants will come from Africa

Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC, investors in early-stage, high-growth technology businesses, notes a significant increase in investment demand for African technology startups. He says startups on the continent are at a distinct advantage because they compete out of necessity. As a result, they can, and very often do stand toe to toe with startups in more the established tech hubs of Palo Alto, Singapore, London and Tel Aviv. “African innovators face local challenges so pervasive; they simply have no choice but to tackle them head on and become subject matter experts in finding solutions for real world problems like food security, health, education, safety, financial services and logistics.” Lessem adds that African technology driven solutions borne out of necessity create efficien...

Shaping tomorrow’s innovation: Collaborating with the right VC partner

Early-stage African tech investor HAVAÍC says aligning to startup founders’ interests, allowing management to maintain their independence, leveraging off smart capital and working together towards a mutually favourable exit is the foundation for successful collaboration between Venture Capital (VC) investors and startups. Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC, notes that for African startups with international ambitions, partnering with professional investment managers with proven expertise, well established networks, and experience in scaling businesses both locally and abroad are non-negotiable. “We focus on bringing about strategic value in the companies we invest. Our approach is very much about solving backwards from the end goals and carefully considering what foundations need to be...

Kenyan retail-tech startup Tanda secures funding for regional expansion from HAVAÍC

Kenyan agency banking startup Tanda is expanding its operations regionally after securing funding from early-stage African tech investor HAVAÍC, Zedcrest Capital, DFS Lab, Victor Asemota and three other investors. Tanda has also secured key strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Interswitch which will further accelerate its growth. The company’s expansion comes on the back of successfully pioneering and proving the viability of the interoperable agent and merchant model in Kenya, a model that has only been validated in West Africa prior to Tanda. Commenting on HAVAÍC’s decision to invest in Tanda, Rob Heath, Partner at HAVAÍC says, “Tanda is solving one part of the very deep and complex problem of financial inclusion that is not only Kenyan, but a problem across all emerging and undev...