According to Lexi Novitske, General Partner at Norrsken22, an Africa-focused fund, African startups on the continent are too attractive for international investors to overlook.
Details
According to Ms Novitske, Norskenn22 has invested in six companies so far, including South Africa’s neobank Tyme Group, and has three other investments in the pipeline.
The fund plans to increase that number to as many as 20 companies by the end of 2025.
Novitske expects investments to surpass pre-2020 levels, but to trail 2021 and 2022 when exuberance in the aftermath of the pandemic saw a lot of hasty investing.
Zoom In
According to a recent report by the London-based African Private Capital Association, investments in Africa fell 31% in 2023 to $4.5 billion from a year earlier.
What They’re Saying
“We’re already seeing some investors, especially I would say even in the first quarter of this year, really looking at investing large tickets in Africa businesses,” said Lexi Novitske.
“I think investors will start coming back and investing with a lot more due diligence, hopefully, more concentrated positions where they’re much more involved in operations of companies and with a much more reasonable valuation.” she added.
Looking Foward
According to Ms Novistke, Norrsken22 is looking at digital payments and Neobanks in Francophone Africa.
“We’re also looking a lot more at digital payments and neobanks in Francophone West Africa as a market. So far it has been quite low and quite slow to grow, but we also think that a regulation shift is happening now that it’ll make that digital adoption much faster over the next coming five years.” she said.
Source: Bloomberg
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