What a year it's been for us FirstCheck Africa!
Last year, we wanted to prove that women are building in African tech. And they are, more than ever! High growth companies without compromising on the returns. Like we maintained, investing in female-led and diverse teams is and remains an economic endeavor.
We also learned that belief capital is powerful. We’ve seen that our participation in deals helped our founders close their rounds faster and on better terms. Beyond that, it also has a catalytic effect. We’re especially proud that our young fund has already been a catalyst for other funds which are starting to explicitly prioritise diversity by sharing their portfolio stats.
Last year, at least seven startups with female CEOs raised pre-seed and seed rounds above $1M, that’s more female founders than in any previous year. But female-led startups in Africa still raise smaller amounts at lower valuations than all-male founder teams.
So, while total investment into Africa has skyrocketed to nearly $5B, for female-led and diverse teams, it’s still Day 1.
Full update here: https://firstcheckhq.medium.com/firstcheck-africa-2021-in-review-4e0ac6e8d54c
Last year, we wanted to prove that women are building in African tech. And they are, more than ever! High growth companies without compromising on the returns. Like we maintained, investing in female-led and diverse teams is and remains an economic endeavor.
We also learned that belief capital is powerful. We’ve seen that our participation in deals helped our founders close their rounds faster and on better terms. Beyond that, it also has a catalytic effect. We’re especially proud that our young fund has already been a catalyst for other funds which are starting to explicitly prioritise diversity by sharing their portfolio stats.
Last year, at least seven startups with female CEOs raised pre-seed and seed rounds above $1M, that’s more female founders than in any previous year. But female-led startups in Africa still raise smaller amounts at lower valuations than all-male founder teams.
So, while total investment into Africa has skyrocketed to nearly $5B, for female-led and diverse teams, it’s still Day 1.
Full update here: https://firstcheckhq.medium.com/firstcheck-africa-2021-in-review-4e0ac6e8d54c
