Mastercard Foundation and Johnson & Johnson contribute $114 M to Founders Factory Africa

In order to scale its model and better serve founders throughout the African tech ecosystem, Johnson & Johnson and the Mastercard Foundation have provided Founders Factory Africa with an additional US $114 million in funding.

Founders Factory, which began operations in Africa in Johannesburg in 2018 and has already built more than 70 startups, originally started in London in 2015 and has plans to design, build, and scale 140 disruptive tech startups throughout Africa.

In collaboration with Standard Bank, the business introduced its model to Africa. Subsequently, it received funding from Netcare to offer a platform for business owners to launch and grow e-health startups in Africa and from Small Foundation to invest in agri-tech.

Founders Factory Africa will be able to scale its model and provide better support for technology-driven startups and founders across the African continent thanks to an additional US$114 million in funding from the Mastercard Foundation and Johnson & Johnson Impact Ventures, an impact fund within the Johnson & Johnson Foundation.

“We are excited to have new and dynamic funding, which follows on from previous investments into Founders Factory Africa by Standard Bank Group, Small Foundation, and Netcare Group,” said Alina Truhina, co-founder of Founders Factory Africa.

Over 55 tech startups have been launched across Africa thanks to Founders Factory Africa’s support since its inception. The additional funding supports the early-stage investor Founders Factory Africa’s hybrid investment model, which combines capital and operational support. It will also enable the early-stage investor to further iterate this model by becoming sector-agnostic in its investment with founders who prioritize sound business principles and will intensify efforts to address the gender imbalance in the ecosystem.

Along with supporting the continent’s need for various capital deployment types across the venture maturity curve, it will also expand its capital investment offering to include non-dilutive capital. Finally, it will increase Founders Factory Africa’s internal capacity to continue offering its portfolio of start-ups the best venture-building support on the continent.

“Come build with us,” said Founders Factory Africa CEO, Bongani Sithole. “Moving Africa forward requires more of us to support tech-driven, solution-oriented ventures that have the potential to scale and make an impact at speed. Our role as Founders Factory Africa is to provide founders with the funding, knowledge, and hands-on venture-building support they need to achieve commercial success and create outsized, systematic impact.”