[ad_1]
Enterprise capital agency P1 Ventures has accomplished the primary $25m shut of its $50m second fund, which is able to give attention to constructing African software program companies with “regional and world potential”.
Co-founded in 2020 by Mauritanian Mikael Hajjar, who beforehand held roles at Areva, Google and Zum, and Hisham Halbouny, beforehand of Man Capital and EFG Hermes, the agency invests throughout sectors together with fintech, e-commerce, healthtech, software program as a service (Saas) and synthetic intelligence (AI).
“As far I do know, I’m the primary Mauritanian who’s ever launched a fund. Coming from a comparatively small financial system evokes us at P1 Ventures to go off the crushed path and again the underdogs. We love formidable African founders that construct services and products addressing a regional, if not world, buyer base,” Hajjar mentioned.
Since launch, P1 Ventures says it has invested in 29 early-stage firms throughout 10 international locations, together with Cash Fellows in Egypt and Reliance Well being in Nigeria.
The agency’s inaugural funding was in “super-app” Yassir in Algeria, which provides ride-hailing and last-mile supply and which just lately introduced the closing of a $150m Sequence B funding spherical. Extra just lately, P1 Ventures led a seed spherical for Gameball, a software program firm “gamifying” loyalty and buyer retention.
P1’s advisory committee contains Bernard Dalle, a founding group member of Index Ventures, and Emil Michael, former chief enterprise officer at Uber.
AI focus
The agency says it’s betting on Africa adopting AI to leapfrog legacy infrastructure, notably in sectors corresponding to agriculture and FMCG retail.
“Simply as cellular cash in Africa leapfrogged debit and bank card infrastructure, AI can construct high-fidelity information and improve the time-to-value proposition to remodel sectors,” the agency mentioned.
One in every of its investments, Nkoloso, gathers information and retains monitor of agricultural land utilizing satellite tv for pc imagery and AI. The corporate offers a variety of purposes, together with monitoring crop acreage and yields for credit score and insurance coverage underwriting, in addition to calculating the worth of timber and carbon credit.
In FMGC, the agency has invested in a Senegalese startup which makes use of laptop imaginative and prescient, geolocation and conversational AI applied sciences to collect and analyse information for manufacturers and distributors.
The investor says it may very well be expanded to different industries corresponding to healthcare, client electronics distribution and the artistic financial system.
P1 additionally says it’s utilizing AI to supply offers and assist its investing group.
“Whereas AI is a large alternative for the continent, it may well additionally speed up the distribution and potential of enterprise capital, if used strategically by traders with deep information, serving to the agency have even better attain in a area the place info and information are notoriously scarce.”
[ad_2]
Source link
