Naspers, the Johannesburg-listed technology investor, is turning its attention to African female tech founders with a new grant-based initiative, months after winding down its landmark R1.4bn ($100m) early-stage venture capital fund.
The company, along with its Amsterdam-listed subsidiary Prosus, has launched the Tech FoundHER Africa Challenge, a competition offering a total of $100,000 in equity-free grants to women-led technology businesses across the continent. The move signals a strategic shift from direct equity investments to targeted, non-dilutive funding aimed at addressing a persistent gap in the ecosystem.
The challenge, which was first piloted in India, is designed to provide capital, mentorship, and network access to founders who are notoriously underserved by the venture capital community.
“The Tech FoundHER Challenge is about closing one of Africa’s most urgent gaps in entrepreneurship − the lack of funding and visibility for women-led start-ups,” said Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa, South Africa CEO of Naspers. “What they need now is the capital, networks and market access to scale. By backing them, we are not only empowering individual entrepreneurs, but unlocking economic opportunities that will benefit entire communities and the continent at large.”
From Foundry to FoundHER
This new initiative arrives on the heels of a significant strategic recalibration by Naspers. In mid-2023, the company closed Naspers Foundry, the R1.4bn fund launched in 2019 to back South African tech startups.
Headed by Mahanyele-Dabengwa, the Foundry built a notable portfolio, investing in scaleups like car subscription service Planet42, home-cleaning platform SweepSouth, and insurtech Naked Insurance. However, Naspers wound down the fund, citing challenging shifts in the global and local investment environments.
The pivot from a broad, equity-based fund to a focused, grant-giving challenge for female founders suggests a leaner, more targeted approach to fostering innovation. It directly addresses what Mahanyele-Dabengwa has called a critical need for capital that isn’t debt. “People with start-up businesses struggle to raise capital, because the type of capital needed is not debt capital but real equity, or even grants for some businesses,” she recently stated.
Addressing a Stark Imbalance
The focus on female founders targets one of the continent’s most significant funding disparities. According to recent data, startups led by women receive less than 3% of venture capital funding in Africa, despite women comprising over a quarter of the continent’s entrepreneurs.
Naspers is partnering with Lionesses of Africa, a network of 1.8m female entrepreneurs, to run the challenge, tapping into an established community to source applicants.
“For women founders to succeed, access, capability and visibility must come together,” said Prajna Khanna, Chief Sustainability Officer at Naspers and Prosus. “This challenge is designed to give proven women-led start-ups the platform, connections and confidence to scale sustainably.”
To be eligible, startups must:
- Have at least one woman founder in a leadership role.
- Be tech-focused or tech-enabled.
- Be at a pre-Series B funding stage.
- Be generating revenue with proven market traction.
Six finalists will be selected to pitch their ventures at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange on November 19, coinciding with Global Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, where the winners will be announced.
The move comes as Mahanyele-Dabengwa’s role at the company expands. She is set to join the Naspers board of directors in April 2025 and has been nominated for a board position at Prosus, cementing her influence on the company’s future strategy in Africa and beyond.
Applications for the Tech FoundHER Africa Challenge is open here.