AAIS2017

Africa’s early-stage investor community comes together November 15th to 16th for AAIS2017. The annual investor event to be hosted in Cape Town, South Africa, brings together the early stage Africa-focused investors and key stakeholders in the ecosystem from across the continent to exchange best practices, share lessons learned and plot the roadmap for the future.

This years’ theme is ‘From idea to exit, great startup teams poised for global success’. The event will bring together conversations, keynotes and panel discussions centered on how different players in the ecosystem – angels, VC’s, governments, accelerators, the diaspora, etc – can work together to help maximize Africa’s entrepreneurial potential. This year’s event is being organized by Venture Capital for Africa (VC4A), the African Business Angels Network (ABAN) and the South African Business Angels Network (SABAN). The event is powered by the Work in Progress! Alliance and supported by local organizations like the Silicon Cape, SiMODiSA, SAVCA, and the City of Cape Town.

Leading African Investors

Headlining the Summit are renowned international and local investors – with leading African angels and VC fund managers expected to attend from Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, and South Africa amongst many others. Speakers include renowned Angel and VC investors like Lexi Novitske, Brett Conmille, Tomi Davies, Aaron Fu, Keet van Zijl, Eline Blaauboer, Ido Sum, Rebecca Enonchong, Steven Koltai and Michael Goldberg. Maya Horgan of Ingressive is leading a delegation of investors from the United States while the European Business Angels Network (EBAN) will bring a delegation of investors from Europe. At the same time, corporate partners like Orange Telecom, Microsoft, Google, Ringier and Thomson Reuters will join the event with their corporate investment teams.

Great Startup Teams

This year’s event partners with XL Africa, the first post seed stage pan-African acceleration program made possible by InfoDev at the World Bank. Sourcing the best ‘scale-ups’ from across the continent, a team of investors have carefully selected 20 companies ready for Series A funding and now poised for global success. These companies will showcase their remarkable innovations and significant business traction over the course of the two-day event, participating in the continent’s first venture showcase of this caliber. And with these companies in the spotlight, the content of the program will focus on what it takes to build a great startup team in these markets and the successful strategies that take ventures from idea to successful exit.

Quality deal-flow and co-investment opportunities

The event is positioned to bring together leading African investors and the companies they support, an ideal platform for the international investment community to plug into the African tech startup ecosystem. The event and program provides a unique opportunity for accessing quality deal-flow and for exploring actionable co-investment opportunities in the continent’s top companies. Furthermore, the summit provided an unprecedented opportunity to network with the most influential thought leaders in the early stage investment space. 

Register to Attend

Buy your ticket here – special early-bird price at 599 USD if you purchase before September 1st!