12 October, 2022
Press Release
Praia, Cabo Verde
The African Business Angel Network (ABAN) is projecting an investment of over $6 billion into the African Start-up Ecosystem by the end of 2022, a near 50% increase on investment into startups across the continent last year.
“Of the $5 billion raised in 2021, over $400M was by angel investors from across the continent. Even with the challenging times globally, we are expecting a near 50% increase in both external investments and ABAN member contributions this year (2022),” said Tomi Davies (TD), ABAN President.
He made the remarks during a keynote speech at the ongoing 6th annual Tropics Business Summit, which is playing host to more than 350 entrepreneurs, in Praia, Cabo Verde. The summit is a gathering of investors, startups, CEOs, delegates and partners from more than 110 countries across the globe, seeking to promote inclusivity and convergence between the Anglophone, Lusophone and Francophone markets.
Speaking on the importance of the summit, TD said the future of Africa is being built by a generation of entrepreneurs, using technology to provide innovative solutions to support improving the quality of life for people of this great continent.
“This underpins ABAN’s goal of improving opportunities for startup entrepreneurs on the continent as they in turn create economic development while delivering social impact. Our contribution so far includes the creation of 60 angel networks with over 1,500 angel investors spread across 34 African countries and the Diaspora. This translates into a wealth of knowledge that supersedes the resulting cash deployed in the investment deals reached, which can only get bigger and better as we continue collaborating through gatherings such as these,” he added.
The President pointed to the crucial work ABAN is doing in providing support to early stage investment in Africa.
“After the successful launch of OHADA compliant legal documentation for Francophone countries, ABAN has collaborated with Clarence Abogados & Asociados Law Firm to foster, promote and unlock the potential of the Lusophone African early stage investment ecosystem. The team led by Abraham Abia (Managing Director at Clarence Abogados), and supported by Ibrahim De Carvalho and Isabel Mangue Obono (Senior Consultants at Clarence Abogados), Hannah Subayi Kamuanga (Board Member, ABAN), and Fadilah Tchoumba (Secretary General, ABAN) have drafted the Lusophone country-compliant legal documentation, which will be extremely beneficial for several countries, including Cape Verde, Angola, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, and São Tomé and Príncipe,” he said.
The documentation will be released to the public at no cost, during an official launch at the 2022 Africa Early Stage Investor Summit #AESIS2022 that will run from November 2-4.
According to TD, ABAN was formed to educate angel investment groups, promote the creation of new Angel investor networks, be a contact point for emerging and existing networks, and support members in building African early stage investing ecosystems.
“We would like to highlight the work being done by one of our members the Associado de Business Angel de Cabo Verde (ABAC) through whom we have the opportunity of increasing investment they make to startups of their choice with our matching fund programme, Catalytic Africa. Startups should be validated by its affiliated hub, a member of AfriLabs network.”
Catalytic Africa is a matching fund programme initiated by ABAN and Afrilabs, with the aim of accelerating investment to startups by providing either double or triple the investment provided, to the tune of 60,000 Euros per deal. The programme is supported by AFD and Digital Africa.
The matching fund not only supports African startups, but innovation hubs, and angel investor networks as well.
“In closing, I would like to invite all early stage parties to the local investor meet up that will be taking place in Cabo Verde on November 2, and the many activities lined up for AESIS2022,” TD concluded.
AESIS2022 is being run by ABAN and VC4A.
Ends
About ABAN:
African Business Angel Network (ABAN) is the largest pan-African organisation of Angel investors in Africa. Established in 2015, ABAN represents the growing number of business angel groups in the African early stage ecosystems’ future, providing vital human and financial capital to African startup companies creating jobs across the continent. Today ABAN is a 60 member network with a presence in 35 African countries and the Diaspora representing over 1600 angel investors.
