While the venture herd thundered toward payment platforms and B2B marketplaces — again — a few investors in 2025 apparently missed the memo about what you’re supposed to fund in Africa. They backed edtech while the market was in chaos. They wrote cheques in underserved markets while sensible people stuck to Lagos and Nairobi. They funded biotech and semiconductors when, obviously, the only viable sectors are fintech — and, well, fintech with e-commerce features.

Here are the deals that made us wonder if these investors knew something everyone else didn’t — or if they’d simply lost the plot entirely.

1. InfiniLink | Egypt | $10m Seed

The pitch: Optical data connectivity and semiconductor development The investors: MediaTek (Taiwan), Sukna Ventures (Saudi Arabia), Egypt Ventures, M Empire Angels The founders: Ahmed Aboul-Ella (ex-Swiftronix) and Botros George (ex-Si-Ware)

Egypt, as previously established, exists for fintech. Payment processing, digital banking, embedded finance — these are the acceptable investment categories. Semiconductors are for Taiwan, South Korea, or possibly Silicon Valley if you’re feeling nostalgic.

Someone forgot to tell MediaTek, which led a $10m seed round for InfiniLink’s optical data connectivity technology. The Taiwanese semiconductor giant apparently looked at Egypt’s engineering talent, saw founders with actual semiconductor industry experience (Aboul-Ella from Swiftronix, George from Si-Ware), and decided physics works the same everywhere.

This represents either visionary hardware investment in an underappreciated technical talent pool or a spectacular misunderstanding of Egypt’s startup ecosystem. Semiconductors require years of development, massive capital intensity, complex supply chains, and patience that makes enterprise software sales cycles look speedy.

The round size — $10m for a seed — suggests serious investors rather than tourists. MediaTek brings industry expertise. Saudi Arabia–based Sukna Ventures adds regional capital willing to back deep tech, while Egypt Ventures provides local market knowledge.

It is therefore no surprise that InfiniLink was acquired just seven months after the $10m seed round by GlobalFoundries, a US-based semiconductor manufacturer.

2. The Invigilator | South Africa | $11m

The pitch: Digital exam proctoring and assessment technology The investors: Kaltroco (Channel Islands) The founders: Details not disclosed

Edtech in Africa seemed almost dead, at a time (see Edukoya’s landmark closure). Everyone knows this. The pandemic boom ended, schools reopened, venture capitalists remembered that selling to educational institutions involves procurement nightmares and budget constraints, and the sector collapsed back to pre-2020 irrelevance.

The Invigilator raised $11m anyway. The South African exam proctoring platform secured funding from Kaltroco, a Channel Islands-based investor apparently unbothered by sector sentiment.

This qualifies as an outlier for multiple reasons: South Africa (sees mostly fintech funding), edtech (rare investments this year), and a double-digit million round when most investors were writing much smaller checks or skipping the country entirely.

Digital proctoring addresses a real problem: academic institutions need to verify student identity and prevent cheating during assessments. The pandemic proved remote examination works technically. Universities and certification bodies now operate hybrid models requiring digital invigilation solutions.

But edtech’s challenge has never been solving real problems — it’s getting institutions to pay for solutions. Procurement cycles stretch across semesters. Buying decisions involve committees. Budget constraints mean cheap or free alternatives always compete with paid products.

Kaltroco presumably evaluated the market size (South African educational institutions, regional expansion potential, certification bodies), the competitive landscape, and decided $11m made sense. Whether The Invigilator can scale across African educational systems or becomes a case study in why investors avoid edtech will become clear over the next few years.

For now, it stands as evidence that at least one investor thinks education technology can work — or that contrarian sector bets sometimes pay off precisely because everyone else has left.

3. Better Auth | Ethiopia | $5m Seed

The pitch: Developer authentication tools The investors: Peak XV Partners (Singapore/India), Y Combinator (USA), P1 Ventures (Egypt), Chapter One (USA) The founder: Bereket Engida (Ethiopian, ex-founder)

Ethiopia doesn’t feature prominently in African tech narratives. The country has political complexity, infrastructure challenges, and internet shutdowns that make building technology companies difficult. When investors think “developer tools,” they think San Francisco or maybe Bangalore.

Better Auth raised $5m seed from Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia India), Y Combinator, P1 Ventures, and Chapter One. The developer authentication platform competes in a crowded space with Auth0 (acquired by Okta), Firebase, and numerous other solutions.

What makes this an outlier: the choice of an Ethiopian founder, developer tools as category (rarely funded in African context), and a founder (Bereket Engida) without marquee big tech credentials but with prior founder experience.

Developer tools companies can theoretically operate from anywhere — the product serves global customers via internet. 

The investor lineup suggests they’re backing the founder and product rather than ecosystem positioning. Peak XV brings experience scaling Indian developer tools. YC provides network and validation. P1 Ventures adds African market knowledge. Chapter One rounds out the syndicate.

The investment represents a bet that technical talent and product execution matter more than geography — a thesis African founders hope proves correct.

4. Altera Biosciences | South Africa | $1.6m Pre-seed

The pitch: Cell and gene therapy biotech The investors: OneBio Venture Studio (South Africa), E Squared Investments (South Africa) The founders: biotech entrepreneur Alexandra Miszewski (CEO) and molecular medicine expert Professor Michael Pepper. 

African tech investing has settled into comfortable patterns: fintech, e-commerce, logistics. Occasionally someone gets wild and backs agritech. But cell and gene therapy? That’s for Boston or Basel, surely.

Altera Biosciences raised $1.6m pre-seed from OneBio Venture Studio and E Squared Investments to develop cell and gene therapies in South Africa. This represents one of the most technically ambitious bets in the African startup landscape — if not the most ambitious.

Cell and gene therapy involves modifying genetic material to treat diseases. It requires specialized laboratory facilities, highly trained scientists, regulatory expertise, clinical trial infrastructure, and patience measured in decades rather than quarters. It makes semiconductor development look straightforward.

The venture studio model — OneBio incubated the company — suggests structured approach rather than opportunistic investment. E Squared adds South African capital to the mix. Both investors presumably evaluated South Africa’s scientific talent pool (world-class in certain medical research areas), regulatory pathways (South African health authorities), potential market (genetic diseases affect African populations), and long-term exit paths (pharmaceutical acquisitions, though distant).

This is either visionary recognition that Africa has untapped biotech potential or wildly optimistic miscalculation of what venture capital can achieve in 15-year development timelines. Clinical trials alone can consume the entire pre-seed capital. Regulatory approvals require years. Commercial scale demands manufacturing infrastructure South Africa may or may not possess.

But someone has to try. If African biotech never receives capital, African biotech will never develop. Altera represents a bet that the continent can compete in life sciences, not just mobile money.

Whether this pays off financially is almost beside the point — though OneBio and E Squared certainly hope it does. The outlier status comes from sheer audacity: ignoring every conventional wisdom about African venture capital and backing the hardest possible category.

5. POZI | Gabon | €650k Seed

The pitch: Fleet management for Gabon The investors: Saviu Ventures (France), EMSY CAPITAL (France), Chazai Wamba (Angel) The founder: Loïc Kapitho and Thomas Leluc. 

Gabon is not a major African tech hub. The Central African nation has a small population (around 2.3 million), oil-dependent economy, and doesn’t feature in startup ecosystem rankings. When French investors back African startups, they typically focus on Francophone West Africa — Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Morocco.

POZI raised €650k for fleet management technology specifically targeting the Gabonese market. The startup provides vehicle tracking, maintenance scheduling, and operational analytics for companies operating fleets in Gabon.

This qualifies as an outlier for multiple reasons: Gabon as market (tiny by venture standards), fleet management as sector (operational software rarely attracts early-stage venture), and market-specific solution rather than pan-African platform.

But the investment logic is defensible. Gabon’s oil industry generates demand for fleet management. Mining operations need vehicle tracking. Government and commercial fleets require maintenance scheduling. The market may be small, but it’s concentrated and underserved.

French investors (Saviu Ventures, EMSY CAPITAL) bring Francophone Africa experience and likely understand Gabonese market dynamics better than Anglo investors who’ve never heard of Libreville. 

POZI won’t become a unicorn. Gabon’s market size caps potential revenue. Regional expansion into Cameroon, Congo, or Equatorial Guinea offers some growth runway, but Central Africa’s combined markets remain small by venture standards.

Yet someone wrote a €650k check anyway. Perhaps they modeled realistic revenue multiples and exit to a regional player. Perhaps they believe concentrated, specific markets beat diluted pan-African platforms. Perhaps they simply saw an underserved opportunity and took it.

In a year where investors piled into the same Egyptian fintech deals and Moroccan B2B marketplaces, backing fleet management in Gabon stands out for sheer specificity.

6. MazaoHub | Tanzania | $2m Pre-seed

The pitch: Agritech marketplace connecting farmers to buyers The investors: Catalyst Fund (USA), Nordic Impact Fund (Denmark), Mercy Corps Ventures (USA), elea Foundation (Switzerland), Impacc (Germany), DOB Equity (Netherlands), Livelihood Impact Fund (USA) The founders: Geophrey Tenganamba, the CEO, and Adelard Josephat Urassa, the CTO

Agritech is venture capital’s perennial hope and recurring disappointment. The sector promises impact at scale — transforming food systems, increasing farmer incomes, improving food security. Then reality arrives: low margins, complex logistics, rural infrastructure gaps, farmer education barriers, payment collection challenges, and exit paths that don’t exist.

MazaoHub raised $2m pre-seed from a consortium of impact-focused investors to build an agricultural marketplace in Tanzania. The platform connects farmers with buyers, provides market pricing information, and facilitates transactions.

This would be unremarkable — African agritech raises occasional capital — except for the investor syndicate size. About seven separate investors participated in a pre-seed round. That’s remarkable concentration of due diligence effort for early-stage agritech in a market (Tanzania) that typically receives limited venture attention.

The investor list reads like impact investing at its peak: Catalyst Fund, Mercy Corps Ventures, Nordic Impact Fund, elea Foundation, DOB Equity. These are development finance institutions and impact funds, not traditional venture capital. They measure success partly in financial returns, partly in smallholder farmer outcomes.

Which is probably the only way agritech works. Venture funds seeking 10x returns in 5–7 years avoid agriculture. Impact investors with patient capital and blended return expectations might actually build sustainable businesses.

MazaoHub’s challenge: achieving financial sustainability while serving price-sensitive farmers in rural Tanzania. The marketplace model works if transaction volumes reach critical mass. But farmers need education on platform use, smartphone penetration remains limited in rural areas, logistics infrastructure for moving crops requires investment, and buyer acquisition demands time.

The $2m gives MazaoHub runway to test the model. The seven-investor syndicate suggests shared conviction that agricultural marketplaces can work with patient capital and realistic expectations. Whether Tanzania becomes proof that agritech works or another case study in why investors avoid the sector will take years to determine.

For now, it represents genuine commitment to an underserved market (Tanzanian smallholder farmers) and unpopular sector (agriculture) by investors willing to accept impact alongside returns.

7. Community Wolf | South Africa | £340k Seed

The pitch: Crime reporting and community safety via WhatsApp The investors: Fuel Ventures (UK, lead) The founders: Nick Mills (South African, ex-founder) and Michael Houghton (South African, AECOM)

South Africa has a crime problem. Everyone knows this. Security services proliferate. Gated communities erect higher walls. Private security companies employ more personnel than the police. But crime reporting via WhatsApp?

Community Wolf raised £340k seed from UK’s Fuel Ventures to enable South Africans to report crime, suspicious activity, and safety concerns through WhatsApp rather than traditional emergency services. The platform connects neighborhood watch groups, security companies, and residents for real-time information sharing.

This feels deeply unglamorous. No AI, no blockchain, no Web3 elements. Just WhatsApp integration for community safety. Yet it addresses a real problem: South Africa’s official emergency response systems are overwhelmed, distrust in police runs high, and communities organize informal security networks anyway.

Community Wolf provides infrastructure for existing behavior rather than changing behavior — often the smarter strategy. South Africans already use WhatsApp for everything. Neighborhood watch groups already coordinate via messaging apps. Community Wolf adds structure, verified incident reporting, integration with private security response, and data aggregation.

The business model remains unclear from public information. Subscription fees for communities? Revenue share with security companies? Freemium model with premium features? The £340k suggests early validation rather than proven revenue. However, the recent acquisition by the startup of Namola, a popular South African personal safety app that connects users to emergency services (police, ambulance, fire, armed response via subscription) and community watches with a single SOS button press, signals it might have learned its lessons. Community Wolf and Namola operate at different points in this system. Community Wolf enables residents to report crime and safety concerns via WhatsApp, without requiring an app or specialised hardware, while Namola focuses on activating professional emergency response when incidents occur.

Mills previously founded another company — giving him some startup experience — and Houghton brings AECOM background (infrastructure and engineering). Neither fits typical venture-backed founder profiles, but for community safety software, perhaps operational experience matters more than Stanford pedigree.

Fuel Ventures’ investment signals belief that prosaic, specific solutions to local problems can build businesses. Community Wolf won’t scale to 50 African countries. It might not even scale beyond South Africa. But if it works in Johannesburg and Cape Town, maybe that’s enough.

In a year when investors chased payment processing platforms claiming pan-African ambitions, backing WhatsApp-based crime reporting in South Africa stands out for useful specificity.

8. Kumulus | Tunisia | $3.5m Seed

The pitch: Atmospheric water generation using renewable energy The investors: Bpifrance (France), France 2030 fund (France), Île-de-France Council (France), PlusVC (UAE), Khalys Venture (Morocco), Flat6Labs (Tunisia) The founders: Iheb Triki (Tunisian, ex-Smart Capital, ex-BCG) and Mohamed Ali Abid (Tunisian, ex-AQYLON, ex-founder)

Water from air. This sounds like science fiction or a TED talk that went too far. But Kumulus raised $3.5m seed to build atmospheric water generators powered by renewable energy for water-scarce regions.

The technology extracts moisture from air using condensation — essentially industrial-scale dehumidification — and purifies it for drinking water. Renewable energy (solar panels) powers the units, making them deployable in off-grid locations. Target markets: areas with water scarcity but sufficient atmospheric humidity.

North Africa and Middle East face worsening water stress. Traditional solutions — desalination, water trucking, drilling deeper wells — cost money and have environmental impacts. Atmospheric water generation offers an alternative, assuming the technology works economically.

Which is the key question. Pulling water from air requires significant energy. Unit costs remain high. Maintenance needs may exceed capabilities in rural areas. Competing against subsidized municipal water or cheap trucked water makes business model difficult.

Yet Kumulus assembled a substantial investor syndicate: Bpifrance and France 2030 fund provide French government backing (Triki and Abid have French connections), Île-de-France Council adds regional support, PlusVC brings UAE capital (relevant given Gulf water scarcity), Khalys Venture provides Moroccan investment, and Flat6Labs adds Tunisian ecosystem support.

The founders bring relevant experience. Triki worked at BCG (consulting) and Smart Capital (investment). Abid previously founded a company and worked at AQYLON. He is also an engineer from École Polytechnique and Mines ParisTec. Neither seems to have obvious water technology backgrounds, which might raise concerns or might be irrelevant — perhaps business model execution matters more than hydrology PhDs.

Climate tech attracts significant capital globally. Water scarcity represents genuine crisis in North Africa and Middle East. If Kumulus units achieve favorable economics, the potential market is enormous. If they don’t, this becomes another climate tech company that sounded better in pitch decks than reality.

For now, it stands as one of the most technically ambitious bets: generating drinking water from air at scale using renewable energy. That’s either breakthrough climate solution or expensive way to discover why everyone else invests in SaaS.

9. Nucleon Security | France/Tunisia | $3.5m Late Seed

The pitch: Cybersecurity powered by AI The investors: Newfund Capital (France), Orange Ventures (France), CDG Invest (Tunisia), LoftyInc Capital (Nigeria), Axian Group (Madagascar) The founders: Anas Chanaa

While everyone backed companies building technology, Nucleon Security raised $3.5m to protect other people’s technology. The cybersecurity startup operates from France and Tunisia, offering AI-powered security solutions for African and European clients.

Cybersecurity ranks among the least attractive startup categories. No viral growth. No network effects. Just grinding sales cycles, compliance requirements, and competition with established enterprise vendors. African companies especially have limited security budgets, preferring to ignore cyber risks until breaches occur.

Yet Nucleon assembled a cross-border investor syndicate: Newfund Capital and Orange Ventures from France, CDG Invest from Tunisia, LoftyInc from Nigeria, and Axian Group from Madagascar. The geographic spread suggests investors see pan-African security opportunity.

AI-powered cybersecurity is trendy framing, but the core business remains B2B enterprise software sales. African companies need security solutions as they digitize operations. European companies with African operations need localized security understanding. Regulatory requirements (data protection laws) create compliance drivers.

The Tunisia base provides engineering talent at favorable cost structures while maintaining proximity to European markets. French investor backing suggests potential European client pipeline. Nigerian and Malagasy investors add African market access.

Whether Nucleon can compete with multinational security vendors (Palo Alto Networks, CrowdStrike, etc.) or carves out African/Francophone niche determines outcome. The $3.5m late seed suggests investors see traction but need proof of scalable sales motion.

Cybersecurity rarely produces venture-scale outcomes, but it produces real businesses. If Nucleon builds sustainable revenue serving underserved African and Francophone markets, that might suffice even without unicorn exit.

It qualifies as outlier for sector (cybersecurity gets little African venture attention), Tunisia as hub (usually overlooked), and B2B enterprise focus (when most capital chases consumer fintech).

10. Cauridor | Ivory Coast / Guinea | $3.5m Seed

The pitch: B2B payment rails and interoperable infrastructure for Francophone Africa. The investors: Oui Capital (lead), Rally Cap, BKR Capital, angel investors. The founders: Oumar Rafiou Barry and Abdoulaye Bah (founders of BNB Transfer Corp).

VCs scanning West Africa usually mean Lagos. Maybe Accra if they’re feeling adventurous. Guinea and Ivory Coast? Barely register. These markets get written off as too fragmented or too messy, even though they’re sitting on some of the last untapped digital payment opportunities in ECOWAS.

Cauridor’s $3.5m round isn’t backing fresh-faced founders with a pitch deck — it’s backing a veteran pivot. Barry and Bah founded BNB Transfer Corp back in 2014 and grew it into a major remittance player. In 2022, they spun out Cauridor after hitting a wall: people wanted to send money, but the infrastructure connecting banks, mobile money operators (MTN, Orange), and merchants just wasn’t there in Francophone Africa.

Cauridor stopped trying to be another wallet. Instead, they built B2B rails — a single API that lets international money transfer operators (Western Union, MoneyGram, etc.) reach over 25,000 agents across Guinea, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. By 2024, they were moving $500 million in transaction volume, with 90% of revenue coming from infrastructure fees rather than consumer charges.

Oui Capital’s leading because of “founder-problem fit.” Barry and Bah spent a decade deep in diaspora remittance corridors. They’re not chasing what looks good on Twitter — they’re solving for a reality where 95% of transactions are still cash and digital interoperability is the only bridge forward.

The opportunity’s obvious: Francophone Africa is the continent’s fastest-growing region. But it’s a regulatory nightmare. Cauridor has to navigate wildly different central bank rules while competing against continental heavyweights like Onafriq. Their advantage? Hyperlocal presence in overlooked markets like Guinea and Liberia, where they can often negotiate better forex margins than the big players.

What’s interesting about Cauridor is the arc — from profitable founder-owned business to venture-backed infrastructure play. The $3.5m gives them firepower to push into Mali and Nigeria, plus explore blockchain settlements to cut costs further.

Cauridor could become the invisible infrastructure powering Francophone African trade for the next decade. Or it could become another example of how moving money across African borders can crush even the smartest operators.

11. TACO | South Africa | $1.6m Seed

The pitch: AI-driven operational sustainability and situational awareness for heavy industry and utilities. The investors: NEXT176, Holocene, Catalyst Fund, E Squared, Aions, Jozi Angels. The founders: Priaash Ramadeen, Shazia Vawda, and Estelle Lubbe (ex-CSIR).

While everyone else pitched chatbots in 2024, TACO raised $1.6m to solve actual physical problems. Their platform, HYDRA, helps mining companies, farms, and property groups track energy, water, and security across operations where data has traditionally been scattered or just doesn’t exist.

Here’s the thing: most large-scale African operations are flying blind. A mine can hemorrhage millions from water leaks or energy waste simply because nobody’s capturing the data in real-time. Off-the-shelf solutions don’t cut it — they assume you have reliable connectivity and technical staff on-site, which you definitely don’t at a remote solar installation or a citrus farm in the middle of nowhere.

HYDRA pulls data from anywhere — IoT sensors, drones, manual field reports — and runs AI analysis to spot problems automatically. The key advantage? It works regardless of your internet situation. A farm manager in Limpopo gets the same insights as a property developer in Sandton.

The investor lineup (NEXT176 and climate-focused Catalyst Fund leading) suggests South African VC is maturing. This isn’t sexy consumer tech; it’s betting on unglamorous but critical infrastructure that might actually determine whether Africa’s industrial sector survives climate pressures.

The market’s huge — 90% of businesses say they can’t properly track sustainability metrics. But the challenges are real. Industrial sales move at a glacial pace, and TACO needs to convince old-school site managers to trust software over their gut instincts.

What makes TACO interesting is the team’s public sector research background. The $1.6m backs technical credibility over Silicon Valley growth theatrics. Best case? TACO becomes the operating system for African industry, making sustainability profitable instead of performative. Worst case? It proves that sectors like mining are still too stubborn for even smart AI to penetrate.

12. ANDA | Angola | $3.4m Seed

The pitch: “Drive-to-own” fintech formalizing the motorcycle taxi economy. The investors: Breega, Speedinvest (co-leads), Double Feather Partners. The founders: Sergio Tati and Joerg Nuehrmann.

In late 2025, Anda pulled off Angola’s largest-ever seed round, officially putting Luanda on the venture capital map. But this isn’t another ride-hailing clone — it’s an attempt to create financial mobility for people the banking system has completely ignored.

Angola runs on 1.2 million motorcycle taxis. About 90% operate informally. Drivers rent bikes daily from owners, which means they end every shift with zero assets and zero credit history. In Luanda alone, 600,000 drivers work without insurance, training, or any realistic shot at ownership — just an endless grind of expensive rentals.

Anda’s angle is “drive-to-own.” Instead of just connecting drivers with passengers, they offer a pathway to vehicle ownership. Drivers go through the “Anda Academy” for professional certification and insurance, then pay off a motorcycle through their platform earnings. Eventually, they graduate from renters to asset-owning micro-entrepreneurs.

Breega and Speedinvest aren’t just betting on rides — they’re betting on data. By digitizing these transactions, Anda builds credit profiles for people who’ve never had them. The playbook: start with motorcycles, expand to three-wheelers and EVs, then layer in broader financial services.

Of course, Angola isn’t easy. Regulatory tangles and currency swings are constant headaches. And Anda’s competing against “free” — the informal system already works for a lot of people. Winning requires more than good software. You need physical infrastructure (like “Safe Stops”), deep government relationships, and serious capital for asset financing.

Anda is the clearest sign yet that African tech isn’t just a “Big Four” story (Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, South Africa). If this works, it could formalize 1.2 million informal workers and rewrite mobility across Lusophone Africa. If it doesn’t, it’ll be a reminder of just how hard it is to scale capital-heavy models in one of the world’s toughest regulatory environments.

What the Outliers Tell Us

These deals share common threads:

Underserved geographies matter. Guinea, Gabon, and Ethiopia received capital because investors saw opportunities others missed or ignored. Market size doesn’t always predict market viability.

Unpopular sectors persist. Edtech, biotech, and atmospheric water generation attracted funding despite being unfashionable. Real problems exist outside consensus categories.

Non-obvious founders can win. Serial entrepreneurs and big tech alumni dominate African venture capital, but research scientists, consulting alumni, and industry specialists secured funding based on domain expertise.

Impact investors fill gaps. Development finance institutions, impact funds, and patient capital enabled deals that pure venture funds wouldn’t touch. Different return expectations unlock different opportunities.

Ticket sizes matter. None of these deals approached $50m. Most stayed between $1m-$5m. Smaller checks enable experimentation in uncertain markets and sectors.

The outliers also share risks: unproven business models, uncertain exit paths, challenging operating environments, and competition from incumbent solutions. Whether any become successful businesses remains unknown.

But venture capital requires some investors to ignore consensus. If everyone backs Egyptian fintech and Nigerian e-commerce, valuations inflate and returns compress. The outliers represent genuine risk-taking — backing founders, markets, and sectors where others fear to tread.

In a year when “following the herd” described most African venture activity, these outlier deals stand out for actually taking risk. Which is, theoretically, what venture capital is supposed to do.

Whether the investors are visionaries or not will become clear in the next few years. For now, they deserve credit for backing things that aren’t fintech or only made in Lagos, Cairo, Nairobi or Cape Town.