European seed capital firm Breega establishes a $75 million fund with an emphasis on Africa
With the goal of becoming the top early-stage investor in African entrepreneurs, Breega, one of the fastest-growing early-stage funds in Europe, has announced the opening of its first African fund, “Breega Africa Seed I.”
The Paris-based Breega, which also has offices in London and Barcelona, closed its first fund in 2015 and now manages $700 million in assets and has made investments in more than 100 firms in 15 different countries.
In order to oversee its new pan-African fund, “Breega Africa Seed I,” Breega has now established two new offices: one in Cape Town, South Africa, and the other in Lagos, Nigeria. With a US$75 million endowment, the fund will make investments in projects in various French-speaking African nations, including Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as well as in Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya.
As the initial investor, Breega intends to invest checks totaling between US$100,000 and US$2 million with this fund. By investing in crucial industries including agri-tech, ed-tech, e-health, fintech, insurtech, prop-tech, and logistics, it will concentrate on high-impact and sustainable solutions that address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as outlined by the UN.
Leading start-ups on the continent, such as Numida, Socium, Klasha, Kwara, Coachbit, and Sava, have already profited from a first investment and assistance from Breega’s internal scaling team.
Melvyn Lubega, co-founder of the unicorn in digital education Go1, and Tosin Faniro-Dada, a former CEO of Endeavor in Nigeria, are in charge of the new fund. From the Cape Town office, Lubega will oversee Breega’s operations in Eastern and Southern Africa.
“Today, Africa receives one per cent of global funding for a region which is home to 18 per cent of the population of the planet. This is a large funding gap to close across a continent at the dawn of its technological potential. Breega, an international fund for founders built by founders, has a unique role to play in bridging this gap,” Lubega said.
As the partner in charge of West and North Africa, Faniro-Dada will offer her expertise, particularly from her time as a board member of the unicorn fintech company Flutterwave in Africa.
Africa is seeing a rise in entrepreneurship, which is indicative of the continent’s increased ambition and inventiveness. The desire to address the problems facing the continent motivates our entrepreneurs. Because of the special model Breega has created, I’m ecstatic to be able to help them; it is very inspiring,” the woman remarked.
