Algeria Venture & AIF to Launch New $10M VC Fund for Local Startups
The news comes as more and more international VCs divert their gaze towards a booming African ecosystem.
State-owned accelerator, Algeria Venture, and the Algeria Investment Fund (AIF) have teamed up to launch a new $10 million VC fund that will look to support and finance startups at all and any stages.
A first-of-a-kind in the often overlooked North African nation, Algeria Venture is sector agnostic in its goal to develop a network of Algerian startups that can make social impact, generate positive charge and aid in Algeria’s economic development. The fund comes on the back of Algeria Ventures’ announcing a partnership with Google in April to launch a new accelerator. AIF, meanwhile, was launched in 2021 as a collaboration between the National Bank of Algeria and the External Bank of Algeria, one that very much shares the goals of its new partner to put the Algerian ecosystem on the map of a wider African ecosystem that is booming.
“The goal of this agreement is to provide financing for all stages of a startup’s life, from creation, seed, and up to acceleration that could lead to its IPO,” said Yacine El-Mahdi Oualid, Minister Delegate to the Prime Minister in charge of the Knowledge Economy & Startups, on the ambitious fund. Yet Algeria Venture understands well that if the fund is to achieve its aims, capital is only one step of the journey.
“A startup requires more funding to develop and export and does not want to be satisfied with the 20M dinars that Algeria Startups Fund (ASF) may offer it,” said Sid Ali Zerrouki, General Manager of Algeria Venture. “This is what justifies the signing of the deal with the AIF, which can give funding of up to 1.5 billion dinars, a first in Africa for a public fund.”
The news comes as more and more international VCs divert their gaze towards a continental ecosystem that has seen 75% of its $1.2 billion of investments in Q1’22 come from international investors. The continent has also been the target of VC funds in this still young year, including Rali_cap’s $30M FinTech fund, and Tofino Capital’s $10M fund.
