We’re proud to announce the 8 ventures for the 2021 VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A track!
Since 2017, the VC4A Venture Showcase has been part of VC4A’s greater effort to establish a strong Series A market on the African continent. We believe that improved access to liquidity and downstream funding supports the development of a strong African startup ecosystem, and further propels a still nascent but fast-growing early-stage investing movement gaining traction across the continent.
The 8 companies selected for the 2021 VC4A Venture Showcase Series A portfolio represent the best Series A investment opportunities on the continent. They have been vetted by VC investors through a rigorous referral and selection process. They demonstrate strong revenues and competitive edge, are well-positioned for regional and international expansion and are working on important innovations in the healthcare, finance, transport, commerce and education sectors.
The founders will showcase their businesses in front of investors during the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit on 4-5 November 2021, with the aim of raising $1,5M-$10M in Series A capital. All companies provide technology-intensive or innovation-based products or services that are currently available in one or more African markets.
The 2021 VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A portfolio:
Alpha Direct is an Africa-focused risk carrying Insurtech that is focused on using cloud, big data and AI to deliver compelling insurance products for Africa’s growing consumer market.
Arifu is a Nairobi-based multi sided digital learning platform that anyone can chat with for free to learn skills over basic and smartphone messaging channels from a growing ecosystem of local education content providers.
Chari Co is an e-commerce app helping small retailers in North Africa procure inventory for their stores and getting delivered for free on the next day.
CINETPAY is a payment aggregator that develops solutions for merchants to accept and make payments seamlessly in 9 countries of Francophone Africa.
CloudFret is the digital platform that connects shippers to carriers between Europe and Africa, building Africa’s most reliable AI-enabled trucking network.
Fatura is a B2B super app that optimizes the exchange of goods, money and information between retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers across any industry.
Rology is an AI-assisted teleradiology platform helping small, medium and rural hospitals with radiology departments, solve the problem of high latency in reporting time by matching radiologists with cases from hospitals remotely and instantly.
Youverify is on a mission to empower every African with their identity, to ensure that they are included in the social-economic development of the continent through seamless and secure identity data access and verification.
The program
Over the next 6 weeks, the selected startups will participate in a virtual investor readiness program, including workshops by renown African VC investors, office hours with domain experts, guest speaker sessions and ample opportunity to interacting and learn from mentors, peers, and partners. They will also be linked to top VC investors for one-on-one mentorship.
The program entails:
- 3-minute virtual pitch featured at the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit 2021 #AESIS2021
- Participation in the VC4A Venture Showcase deal room, including 200+ early-stage investor organizations
- The pitches will become available to the investor community on investors.vc4a.com
- Interested investors can schedule 1-on-1 follow-ups
- Mentorship and technical support by partner VC investors
- AWS Activate offers the selected cohort AWS credits ranging from $10,000 to $25,000, tools, resources, and more to quickly get started on AWS.
- The startups join the VC4A alumni network and gain exclusive access to fundraising opportunities.
Investor collaboration
VC4A is excited to see the Venture Showcase becoming a great example of true industry collaboration. The vetting process is fully undertaken by our partnering external investors, where these organizations refer their portfolio companies ready for the next round. VC4A’s partner VCs then assess the opportunities and ultimately decide who will appear on the virtual #AESIS2021 stage.
Investor participation has been outstanding this year, with 70+ major VCs and multiple angel groups involved in the process. We believe initiatives like this help to build trust and foster collaboration between industry stakeholders, and importantly, create both co-investment opportunities and exit opportunities for our partners.
2021 selection committee
Africa Early Stage Investor Summit #AESIS2021
While this year’s Summit will be virtual and will not have the beautiful backdrop of Cape Town, we do plan to deliver just as high-quality and engaging sessions as in the past years. This year, the virtual event will be complemented by informal get-togethers hosted by AESIS partners in a number of African cities. Stay tuned for updates on the program and the upcoming meetups!
If you are interested in attending the 2021 VC4A Venture Showcase – Series A as an investor or corporate partner, please register via www.AfricaInvestorSummit.com or get in touch with us by email at: team[at]africainvestorsummit.com.
Special Thanks
We are sincerely grateful for the nearly 1000 entrepreneurs that took the time to apply for the 2021 Showcase. There are so many quality companies and management teams deserving of attention, making it a challenging decision-making process for us and our investor committee. The Showcase objective is to promote an increasing number of high-quality Series A investment opportunities on the continent. This is why we will also share our top-50 list based on the investor committee ratings with our wider investor network, and we hope to spotlight some of these companies in our upcoming Quarterly DealRooms.
We are thankful to the investors and partners that support us along this journey. We believe that, together, we help raise global awareness and attention to the best the continent has to offer.
Look forward to seeing you ONLINE in November!