Janngo Capital has completed the first closing for its €60-million ($63 million) Janngo Capital Startup Fund, after raising €34 million ($36 million) from international financial institutions and leading private corporations.
Janngo Capital is the technology venture capital arm of Janngo, an African social startup studio founded by Senegalese tech entrepreneur Fatoumata Ba. It is one of the few female-founded, female-owned, and female-led fund management companies.
The VC firm, which presently runs two funds, invests between €50,000 ($52,000) and €5 million ($5.2 million) in tech and tech-enabled startups across Africa, with a focus on women and youth.
The European Investment Bank (EIB), African Development Bank (AfDB), and Boost Africa contributed to its €60-million ($63 million) fund.
Janngo Capital will invest 50 percent of its proceeds in companies founded, co-founded, or benefiting women through the Janngo Capital Startup Fund, Africa’s largest gender equal tech VC fund, as it moves to leapfrog development in Africa.
Ba, Janngo’s founder and executive chair, said: “We are proud to lead Africa’s largest gender equal tech VC fund and see major global investors rally around our vision to back entrepreneurs building digital champions across Africa.”
“Janngo Capital Startup Fund will play a critical role in improving access to early-stage capital for tech entrepreneurs in a more equal way, on a continent still attracting less than 2 percent of the global VC fund,” she added.
Ba is a Senegalese venture capitalist and tech entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of Janngo, a managing partner of Janngo Capital, and the chairwoman of Auchan in Africa.
Under her leadership, Janngo, which is backed by top-tier African and global strategic and financial investors such as the European Investment Bank, the Mulliez Family, Clipperton Finance, and African UHNWIs, builds, grows, and invests in pan-African “tech for good” champions with proven business models and inclusive social impact.
Prior to founding Janngo, Ba was the CEO of Jumia Ivory Coast, and the managing director of Jumia Nigeria.
