Sustainable innovation: Breega launches $75 million fund to finance start-ups
Good news for African start-ups in the pre-seed and seed stages. French venture capital firm Breega has just launched a $75 million fund to support sustainable development innovations.
Breega has named its new investment fund “Breega Africa Seed I”. Aimed at pre-seed and seed-stage African start-ups based in Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Morocco, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this investment vehicle is primarily intended to support projects focusing on sustainable development. More specifically, initiatives in agri-tech, ed-tech, e-health, fintech, insurtech, prop-tech (real estate technologies) and logistics.
The Breega Africa Seed I fund, which is already attracting a great deal of interest from entrepreneurs, will be managed by the French venture capital firm’s new offices in Lagos, Nigeria and Cape Town, South Africa. Investments per start-up are expected to range from $100,000 to $2 million, said the company, which alone has $700 million in assets under management and is investing in more than 100 start-ups across 15 countries.
Achieving a more sustainable future in Africa by 2030
“Today, Africa receives almost 1% of global funding. This is not enough for a region that is home to 18% of the world’s population. There is a huge funding gap to be filled on a continent that is on the cusp of realising its full technological potential”, points out Melvyn Lubega, the entrepreneur behind the unicorn Go1, who will be in charge of Breega’s new South African office.
Overall, the aim is to respond to a number of challenges on the African continent, particularly those relating to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, peace and justice over the next few years. “It is important to achieve each of these goals, and each of their targets, by 2030”, stated the United Nations (UN) back in 2015, when the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were set.
