As seed fund I, Launch Africa Ventures returns $2.5 M to investors to reach DPI benchmark
Launch Africa Ventures has returned about US $2.5 million, or roughly 7% of the paid-in capital, to its limited partners (LPs) as part of its first cash distribution from its Launch Africa Seed Fund I.
With more than 180 portfolio businesses spread across 25 African nations across its two funds, Launch Africa Ventures is a prominent pan-African venture capital fund and one of the most active early-stage investors on the continent.
From pre-seed to seed to pre-Series, the company makes investments. A tech company that supports its portfolio with follow-on funding, worldwide distribution relationships, and access to a network of more than 400 LPs across 45 countries while addressing major challenges in finance, health-tech, agri-tech, logistics, ed-tech, and enterprise software.
With its first cash distribution to LPs from its Launch Africa Seed Fund I, Launch Africa Ventures has already returned about US $2.5 million, or roughly 7% of paid-in capital. At a time when half of worldwide venture funds from the same vintage have not yet returned any cash to their investors, the distribution comes after 11 completed portfolio exits, making the 2020-vintage fund DPI-positive.
“This distribution is an important milestone – for our investors and for the African venture ecosystem more broadly. Venture capital is ultimately judged on realised returns, not paper gains. We are proud to show that African technology companies can generate liquidity, and that our investors can receive cash while significant upside still remains in the portfolio,” said Zachariah George, managing partner of Launch Africa Ventures.
“From day one, we set out to build a venture platform that pairs broad market access with disciplined portfolio management. This distribution is the product of years of work – backing founders, building strategic relationships and actively engineering liquidity for our investors,” said Janade du Plessis, managing partner of Launch Africa Ventures.
