ImpactAlpha, October 26 — U.S.-based venture capital firm Flourish Ventures has launched Madica, short for ‘Made In Africa’, to invest in and provide business-growth support to founders of mission-driven tech startups in Africa.
The program will invest up to $200,000 each in up to 30 pre-seed-stage startups over three years. “We have reserved an equal amount for hands-on support, extensive resources, access to networks and more,” said Flourish Ventures’ Emmanuel Adegboye.
Madica will donate a portion of its financial returns to incubator and accelerator partners to source and support founders. “We intend to develop a cadre of mentors, create world-class programming, crowd-in follow-on capital and leverage Flourish’s global presence to extend the reach of local networks,” said Flourish Ventures’ Ameya Upadhyay.
Returns on inclusion
Madica will prioritize funding and support for local Africa-educated and women founders outside of Africa’s large tech hubs in Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and South Africa. “We hope that Madica can help change the narrative around African startups – lower the perception of risk, attract more capital, inspire more founders, and garner more media attention,” said Upadhyay.
Madica will attend the “2022 AfriLabs Annual Gathering,” Oct. 26-28 in Lusaka, Zambia, to meet and network with founders in the African tech community.
Deal footprint
Flourish Ventures manages a $500 million-plus portfolio in companies working to improve financial health and prosperity, including Indonesian affordable insurance company Qoala and smallholder farmer agtech TaniHub Group, Singapore enterprise tech venture Zaapi, Egyptian ecommerce platform MaxAB and Atlanta-based gig-worker platform Steady.
