HAVAÍC Completes 1st Close Of $50M African Innovation Fund 3

Cape Town-headquartered Venture Capital (VC) firm HAVAÍC has announced the first close of its US$50 million African Innovation Fund 3.

In partnership with cornerstone investors Universum Wealth and The SA SME Fund, as well as local and international family offices, the fund has secured $15 million in commitments for its first close in July 2024.

The African Innovation Fund 3 is earmarking 15 investments in early-stage, high-growth, post-revenue investments born in Africa with regional and global growth potential. From seed stage to Series A and B, the investments will fortify HAVAÍC’s 20-strong portfolio, which already serves over 20 million customers in 190 countries across the globe.

This marks HAVAIC’s third African-focussed fund and its largest to date. The VC firm launched its first $6 million Fund 1 in 2016, followed by its $20 million Fund 2 in 2020. Now fully deployed, both funds are on track to realise additional exits, adding to HAVAÍC’s landmark fifth exit achieved last year.

The SA SME Fund is among a growing cohort of leading institutional investors channelling capital into the local VC industry. This, combined with a recent surge in new funds supporting Africa’s entrepreneurs, bodes well for the continent’s thriving startup ecosystem in HAVAÍC’s key markets of South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria.

Ian Lessem, Managing Partner at HAVAÍC, said, “Our deepening relationship with institutional investors means we can support more African tech entrepreneurs in scaling into new markets and generating diversified revenue for reinvestment into Africa. A thriving VC ecosystem translates into economic growth and the creation of skilled local jobs. We are proud to support positive change in Africa and beyond, and thank our partners for supporting our vision.”

Jonathan Sieff, Managing Partner at Universum Wealth, added, “We continue to be impressed with HAVAÍC’s trademark expertise and proven ability to source compelling opportunities which deliver market-leading returns. Supporting Ian and his team has been a key part of our client offering. Alternative, uncorrelated assets enable our clients to sensibly diversify their portfolios and generate higher returns over chosen investment time horizons.”

Ketso Gordhan, CEO of The SA SME Fund, added, “Our commitment to HAVAÍC represents the fifth commitment by The SA SME Fund’s Venture Capital Fund of Funds to a leading Venture Capital firm. These VC Funds are at the forefront of finding innovative solutions to intractable social problems, allowing us to realise commercial returns to our investors while at the same time achieving real impact. We are delighted to be working with HAVAÍC in their new Fund.”

The announcement follows the release of HAVAÍC’s 2023 results, marking a 400 per cent increase in total annual revenue and a landmark fifth exit. During the reporting period, the VC delivered 193 per cent in total realised exited returns and 120 per cent in total unrealised carrying returns.

Most recently, HAVAÍC completed an investment in sports data and analytics company Sportable, plus follow-on investments in RNR, RapidDeploy, hearX Group, and AURA. In March, RapidDeploy was named among Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, while hearX Group (#10), FairMoney (#12), and AURA (#27) ranked on the Financial Times’ 2024 ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies.