African venture capital firm Django Capital has closed its second fund with €73 million ($78 million), 20% more than its initial target of €60 million ($63 million).
The firm has secured limited partners including the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), and achieved the fund's first close in 2022 at €26 million.
Both anchor investors also participated in the fund's second closing, Janngo Capital founder Fatoumata Bâ told TechCrunch. Other institutional investors are also participating, including three with African mandates: the Mastercard Foundation African Growth Fund, Tunisia's Fund of Funds ANAVA, and Ghana-based university Assisi University. It is an endowment fund. The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) also invested.
Development finance institutions such as DFC and IFC have helped strengthen Africa's startup ecosystem by investing in local funds that support early- and growth-stage startups. However, local institutional investors remain reluctant, so efforts by companies like Janngo to bring in local capital are helping to project confidence to foreign investors.
“Africa accounts for 17% of the world's population, but attracts only 1-2% of global venture capital funding, up from $150 million raised ten years ago to around $4-5 billion today. Despite growing to 20%, its share remains stagnant,” Barr said. . “If we believe that technology is essential to Africa’s economic development, we need proportionate access to VC. That’s why our goal is not to hit targets or achieve oversubscription, but rather to invest in private LPs. , we especially wanted to attract African LPs.”
The company bills itself as a “gender-equal” investor, and so far it's lived up to that name. Startups founded or led by women, such as Sabi, a Nigerian B2B e-commerce platform with a female CEO, make up 56% of Janngo Capital's portfolio across both funds.
“Our argument hasn’t changed. We’ve proven it with exits like Expensya, where we were the first VC on the cap table. , as a primarily women-owned fund, we place great importance on investing in women entrepreneurs,” said Barr.
“This focus is important because while Africa has the highest proportion of female entrepreneurs in the world, only a small portion of global venture capital funding flows to female founders. It was essential for us to demonstrate that the high-impact theme of directing capital to sectors outside of , early-stage venture capital and fintech can be realized.”
Support winners early
When the fund first closed two years ago, Janngo Capital initially planned to back 25 companies. But with additional funding coming in, Bâ said the company plans to invest in 10 to 15 more companies over the next five years. The firm expects the portfolio to include 25 to 40 companies, and the second fund will not depart from the firm's seed to Series B focus. VCs take ownership of 15% to 30% of startups.
Since launching its first fund in 2018, Janngo has made more than 30 investments in 21 startups, and in some cases subsequent Series B rounds. The first fund had approximately $10 million in funding and seeded 11 companies, including Expensya and Sabi. The company doubled down on Series B rounds for both startups with its second fund.
Janngo invests between €150,000 and €5 million in startups active in the fields of healthcare, logistics, financial services, retail, agritech, mobility and the creator economy. The company also has offices in Abidjan, Mauritius, Tunis and Paris.