After successfully closing a second round of funding totalling US $35 million for its Fund II, local venture capital firm P1 Ventures welcomed the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank as its first publicly traded institutional investor.
P1 Ventures, a high-conviction investor founded in 2020, is on a mission to support Africa’s top entrepreneurs who are using cutting-edge technologies, like generative AI, to disrupt traditional industries, like healthcare, retail, and agriculture.
It focuses especially on supporting seasoned business owners and recurring founders with validated products and successful software business models that can grow capital efficiently and gain traction with clients early on. Some of the companies in its portfolio are Yassir from Algeria, MoneyFellows from Egypt, Reliance Health from Nigeria, and Chari from Morocco.
P1 has now finished closing a second round of funding, totaling US $35 million, for its second fund, which includes IFC investment. Through the IFC partnership, P1’s early-stage tech entrepreneurs will find it simpler to obtain follow-on funding, grow their businesses, and obtain growth capital. It will also allow P1 to focus more on industries like fintech and AI-driven SaaS, where Africa has significant unrealized potential and a competitive advantage.
In the meantime, the venture capital firm has grown its internal data science team to better utilize AI in its talent and dealflow sourcing.
“We’re seeing an unprecedented rate of innovation, high-quality founders, and strong resilience across Africa. As international investors retreat, we’ve stayed contrarian. We’ve leaned into the most attractive investment opportunities and believe this will be one of the best vintage years for regional venture capital funds. Similar to what happened in Latin America a couple of years ago, local VCs have a great opportunity to back great founders at better entry valuations as markets begin to normalise,” Hisham Halbouny, P1 Ventures co-founder and managing partner, said.
