Deep Dive Africa, an initiative by Impact Hub and the Growth Africa Foundation, is back for a second year of connecting early-stage investors and African startups. The program is funded by Make-IT in Africa, a project implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Deep Dive Africa exists to drive investor interest from Europe – and at the same time, to prepare African ventures to receive (foreign) capital. In its first edition (2019), the program brought together nine investors from Europe for a startup ecosystem tour of Ghana and Nigeria to meet 25 selected startups. From measurement six months post-program, we learned that the initiative helped Nigerian and Ghanaian startups raise over 500.000 euros in pre-seed investment.
Robert Tagoe, Deep Dive Africa Project Manager comments,
“In an ecosystem that has been forced to reinvent itself, there is no better time to explore new ways of enhancing deal flow between European investors and entrepreneurs in Africa. Deep Dive Africa II seeks to push this agenda to unlock capital by creating an interactive virtual event – and to further de-risk the investor-startup engagement in the region.”
This year’s edition of Deep Dive Africa focuses on four locations, Accra, Lagos, Kigali and Nairobi. Investors will enjoy a tour of the startup ecosystem in each of these cities. A final 3-day virtual event, where investors and startups will connect, takes place from 23 to 25 February, 2022.
Matthias Rehfeld, Head of Make-IT in Africa says,
“As the African startup scene is growing year on year, the conversation about investing in Africa is more and more about opportunities, prospects and trends. With Deep Dive Africa, we support the Impact Hub Network and the Growth Africa Foundation, which bring together local startups and international investors to unlock Africa’s vast potential and scale up local ideas for sustainable development. With these two partners we can count on organisations that have deep knowledge about the local innovation ecosystems – a key ingredient for successful deal flow, even more so when bridging startups and investors from different continents.”
For the open call for both investors and startups as well as reports and insights on investing in Africa, head to deepdive.africa.
About the GrowthAfrica Foundation
GrowthAfrica is a leading African impact accelerator and growth partner for ambitious, innovative and scalable entrepreneurial ventures and growth SMEs. It was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Nairobi.
Through its acceleration activities, strategic advice and access to investments GrowthAfrica turns entrepreneurial ventures into successful businesses contributing to Africa’s social and economic progress. GrowthAfrica has accelerated more than 250 African ventures and worked with over 2,000 growing African businesses, supported in raising over USD 70 million in investments, loans and grants, and created more than 30,000 jobs in Africa.
GrowthAfrica provides business growth programs for high-potential entrepreneurs as well as designs and delivers activities for partners and clients in support of entrepreneurs. GrowthAfrica currently has offices in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia, Malawi, and Ghana.