Downtown Africa
VC4A and ABAN have announced the 8th edition of the Africa Early Stage Investor Summit (#AESIS2021) which will take place online and offline from 4 – 5 November 2021. The ‘for investors, by investors’ event thisyear will shed light on new insights and trends taking over Africa’s startup space, share best practices, open the floor for powerful new deal-flows, celebrate successes and promote a culture of early stage investing on the African continent.
Africa is moving onward and upwards as startups on the continent are breaking records astronomically this year. By mid-July, the ecosystem had already raised as much as it had in the whole of 2019 through $1m+ deals such that even before the big OPay raise of $400m, the total amount raised by start-ups in Africa so far this year had just surpassed the total amount raised in 2020 overall ($1.6bn) reaching a new milestone of $2bn in 2021. Early stage investing in Africa is more set than ever to take off in 2021!
The summit brings together the most notable speakers and guests from leading angel networks, venture capital (VC) funds, impact investors, accelerators, corporate venture divisions, industry associations, and the public sector over the power-packed two-day event with Day 1 focused on angel investors and Day 2 on VCs. Summit delegates will explore developments in Africa’s early stage investment space and will set the agenda for the coming years. The event culminates with an awards closing ceremony to specially recognize the impact and contributions of leaders in the industry.
This year, 16 top companies representing the best investment opportunities on the continent made it into the portfolio of the 2021 VC4A Venture Showcase. The founders will showcase their businesses from the Seed and Series A tracks on Day 1 and 2 of the summit respectively, with fundraising rounds ranging from $400K to $20M. Following this, interested investors can get their seat at the table through the dedicated AESIS DealRooms organized in the week after the Summit.
Speakers for #AESIS2021 feature industry giants such as Rebecca Enonchong, Tomi Davies, Eghosa Omoigui, David S Rose, Wale Ayeni, Lauren Cochran, Justin Norman, Zachariah George, Kola Aina, Idris Ayodeji Bello, Hannah Subayi Kamuanga, Yemi Keri, Dina el-Shenoufy and Aly El-Shakany with more still to come.
In anticipation of the event this year, Alberto Anton of Plug and Play ventures adds “the summit provides great insights on trends in different industries like fintech, health, and enterprise in Africa, and showcases top investment opportunities”. You don’t want to miss another great chance to be a part of this story.
#AESIS2021 will be complemented by informal invite-only local physical networking meetups organized by the investor community members in 9+ cities across Africa in Abuja, Accra, Alexandria, Cairo, Cape Town, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi with more locations to come.
Through the partnership with the UK Tech Hub, the AESIS program now offers a learning track with a great series of technical sessions which features deep-dive masterclasses facilitated by prominent industry members on both days of the summit. These sessions are open to all registered attendees. Successful registration will give exclusive access to the community of investors representing over 90% of capital being invested into startups on the African continent. As well as access to highly curated deal flow with the most investible ventures from emerging markers and the ability to relive #AESIS2020 and watch all recordings.
VC4A is an ecosystem builder that leverages its infrastructure, network and expertise for the programs that contribute to Africa’s startup movement. Since 2008, the organization designs, structures and implements successful entrepreneurship programs on the continent. VC4A runs an online platform featuring the world’s largest database of African startups and connecting local entrepreneurs to learning resources, mentors, investors and partner programs.
The African Business Angel Network (ABAN) is a Pan-African non-profit association that was founded in early 2015 to support the development of early stage investor networks across the continent and to grow the cohort of early stage investors excited about the opportunities in Africa.
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