The narrative of Africa’s venture capital landscape has long been dominated by investments and exits in Anglophone markets, but a shift is underway. Last week, Francophone Africa’s leading early-stage startup investor, Saviu Ventures, announced a major exit from Lapaire, an Ivory Coast-based pan-African eyewear company. The deal generated a significant return on investment for Saviu, which stated it achieved “several times” its initial investment in 2018. Saviu Ventures’ success mirrors that of Investisseurs & Partenaires (I&P), another active investor in the region. I&P also recently exited its stake in Enko Education, a Cameroon-founded, technology-enabled network of international African schools that provides the continent’s youth access to top universities worldwide. I&P initially invested in Enko Education in 2016 through the I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 1 fund at the company’s earliest stages, alongside Proparco.
These recent exits in Francophone Africa have prompted Africa’s top and most prolific investors to reassess their investment strategies, which have historically favored English-speaking countries on the continent.
Ivorian fintech startup Cauridor, founded by Guinean entrepreneurs Oumar Rafiou Barry and Abdoulaye Bah, is the latest beneficiary of this shift. In late January, Cauridor raised $3.5 million in seed funding to enhance its payment infrastructure and address long-standing inefficiencies in Africa’s cross-border payment ecosystem. The funding round was led by Pan-African venture capital firm Oui Capital, with additional backing from Rally Cap, BKR Capital, and angel investors. Notably, Oui Capital and Rally Cap, traditionally focused on English-speaking African markets, have signaled growing interest in Francophone Africa with this investment.
Oui Capital recently reported that its $150,000 early-stage investment in Nigeria’s Moniepoint yielded an $8 million return six years later — a remarkable feat it aims to replicate with its latest venture into Francophone Africa. The firm has previously backed Maad, a Senegal-based logistics startup digitizing informal retail in Francophone West Africa, and Vite, a Mauritius-based ride-hailing platform offering on-demand rides in mid-sized African cities. Despite the region’s technological infrastructure still being in its infancy, early movers and investors are positioning themselves to reap significant benefits as the industry matures.
“We realized early on that the payment rails in Francophone Africa were almost nonexistent. So we had to step in and start building them, as payments in the region were fragmented,” Cauridor’s CEO, Oumar Rafiou Barry, recently stated. His remarks reflect the growing sentiment among investors regarding the untapped opportunities in the region.
But Oui Capital is not alone in this pivot. Baobab Network, a prolific early-stage investor with ticket sizes similar to Oui Capital’s early investment in Moniepoint, has announced an increased focus on Francophone Africa.
“We are doubling down on Francophone Africa!” said Toby Hanington, the VC firm’s co-founder. “Currently, around 20% of Baobab Network’s portfolio is based in Francophone Africa. We expect this to increase significantly over the next few years.”
Last year, the venture capital firm backed Swyft, a Cameroon-based logistics startup. It is now following up with an investment in IWOMI, another Cameroonian startup expanding its fintech solutions across the CEMAC region.
Hanington believes investing in the region presents an opportunity that global investors often overlook.
“These markets have strong talent, improving infrastructure, and a growing population fueling tech-driven innovation. We are witnessing the perfect storm for investment,” he said. In 2023, Baobab also backed MuduPay, a Guinean fintech startup helping SMEs with digital payments across the sub-region.
Baobab Network joins a growing list of prolific VCs scouring Francophone Africa for investment opportunities. In 2024, Renew Capital ventured north to Tunisia to back fintech startup Konnect, which operates a payment gateway licensed by the Central Bank of Tunisia to provide a secure, scalable platform for online transactions. This investment follows Renew Capital’s October 2023 funding of Moroccan proptech startup Agenz. The firm’s investment in Agenz is part of a broader strategy to tap into underserved markets across Africa. Given the risks associated with small-ticket investments in a single market, Renew Capital’s diversified focus provides a crucial hedge in an increasingly volatile macroeconomic landscape. The firm has previously invested in Mozambique, a Portuguese-speaking country, through Roscas, a fintech startup digitizing traditional savings groups with digital tools and tailored financial products.
One particularly notable example of this shift is Launch Africa Ventures’ recent investment in VaulFi, an Algerian fintech startup, in late January.
With over 100 investments across 21 African countries, Launch Africa Ventures’ backing of VaulFi is not an isolated case. Last year, the firm closed its $36.3 million fund, which it has primarily used to invest in B2B and B2B2C startups across Africa. The firm was also an early investor in GOMYCODE, a Tunisian edtech startup.
The growing momentum in Francophone African startups has prompted Saviu Ventures, one of the region’s leading investors, to roll out a new $50 million fund targeting early-stage startups. The firm has already raised half of the fund and aims to invest in seed to Series A startups in the region, with ticket sizes of up to $3 million. Early last year, Ring Capital launched a similarly-sized fund targeting startups in the region.
“To invest in a Francophone West African unicorn, I would have to wait a long time, and that’s not in my investment thesis,” said Benoît Delestre, Managing Partner at Saviu Ventures. “I need multiples; I need to return cash to my investors. Betting on a unicorn in the next ten years might leave me with no returns.”
This “multiple” approach has resonated with Saviu Ventures’ limited partners (LPs), who were initially hesitant but have grown more confident following the success of Saviu’s first fund.
Historically, Francophone Africa has lagged behind its Anglophone counterparts in attracting venture capital. Of the nine African unicorns, only one — Wave, a mobile money platform — was founded in or primarily operates in Francophone West Africa. According to Partech Africa, an investment firm active in the region, Francophone African countries accounted for 55% of the total equity funding volume in 2024 within the broader “Rest of Africa” group, outside the top four markets — Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, and Kenya. However, this marks a decline from their 68% share in 2023.
Despite growing investment in the region, investors remain cautious about regulatory uncertainties, fragmented markets, and smaller populations — key factors influencing their investment decisions.
“With each country often representing a small market, startups need to think regionally from day one,” said Hanington. His firm is particularly focused on fintech startups — especially digital payments, credit solutions, and embedded finance for SMEs — as well as logistics startups solving supply chain inefficiencies and B2B service providers helping SMEs access financial and operational tools.
By most reasonable measures, Africa’s tech ecosystem has seen some of its most notable exits driven by Francophone startups. In 2023, German biotech giant BioNTech SE acquired InstaDeep, a Tunisian-born artificial intelligence startup, for up to £562 million (approximately $680 million), marking a landmark moment for African AI. As the hunt for the next big exits gains momentum, investors are increasingly re-evaluating their outdated investment theses and turning their attention to the untapped potential of Francophone Africa.
“Francophone Africa should not be an afterthought — it’s a high-growth market with immense potential. As more talent, infrastructure, and capital flow in, the region is on track to produce Africa’s next wave of high-growth startups,” Hanington added.