British International Investment

Partech Africa II

SenegalSouth AfricaAfricaConsumer - other servicesFinancial services

Partech Africa II is a venture capital fund investing in tech-enabled businesses across Africa.

Our investment

Description of the investment.

This investment is part of our strategy to: (i) support local entrepreneurial ecosystems in our markets in order to build new businesses which create jobs, and; (ii) provide us access to early-stage companies that have the potential to create transformational impact at scale.

Partech Africa II aims to catalyse Africa's venture capital market. By supporting the growth of innovative and scalable companies, the fund provides improved access to economic opportunities and essential goods and services for consumers and businesses in Africa.

Impact information

Applies to investments made from 2019 onwards. The tabs in this section define what we expect to achieve through the investment, assessing the potential impact of the investment against six dimensions of impact. You can find more details on our methodology of assessing impact here.

What?

Impact
  • Help catalyse Africa’s VC market, including nascent VC markets, and provide increased job opportunities (SDG 8.5).
  • Help improve access to economic opportunities to mass market suppliers and consumers, expected to be reached at scale.

How?

Primary Secondary

By supporting Partech Africa II, we help build a track record and prove the viability of early-stage VC markets in Africa in order to attract a greater supply of capital to this segment and further unlock economic growth.

Invest in approximately 20 businesses with potential for large scale job creation directly or indirectly through B2B, fintech and marketplace business models.

Who?

Stakeholder Geography Characteristics
Employees and suppliers

Pan-Africa

Variable. Business owners and workers across a range of sectors, particularly in technology and software so this investment will likely tend towards middle-upper income.

Consumers

Pan-Africa

The B2C segments will reach a significant proportion of underserved individuals e.g. low-income consumers, micro-businesses.

How much?

Scale Depth/Duration

Potential for large scale i.e. millions of employees and consumers if the fund demonstrates continued viability of early-stage investing.

The impact on the VC market in Africa is likely to occur in the long term (over 10 years), while the impact on employees and consumers will likely be more immediate, and deep especially in more nascent markets.

Risk

Execution Risk
  • The impact case relies on the fund's ability to select those early-stage companies that will achieve scale, and deliver exits and attractive financial returns which would result in both job creation and a long-term demonstration effect.
Alignment Risk
  • The impact case also relies on the fund's ability to invest in businesses and geographies that are aligned with our impact strategy.

Impact score

Impact score (at point of investment)

The Impact Score is a tool to help us manage our performance against our strategic impact objectives. It is designed to incentivise investments that support our productive, sustainable, and inclusive objectives. You can find out more here.

The Impact Score is published for investments made from 2022 onwards. The Impact Scores are calculated at the point of investment. We publish the Impact Scores of new investments annually, once the information has been externally assured by an independent third party.

7

Environmental and social information

  • Environmental and social summary

    A high-level description of the environmental and social aspects of the investment. This may include a summary of key environmental and social risks identified during environmental and social due diligence (ESDD); key elements of an environmental and social action plan (ESAP); or ways in which we plan to support the investee improve environmental and social standards, such as through their environmental and social management system (ESMS); as well as any other priority areas agreed with the investee.

  • Environmental and social risk

    A risk category rating, which indicates the level of environmental and social risk associated with an investment. For an explanation of the categorisations used, see here. We consistently provide an environmental and social risk category for all investments screened from 2023 onwards.

Environmental and social summary

We are supporting this fund manager in enhancing their ESMS.

Environmental and social risk

Medium-Low

Reporting and Complaints Mechanism

The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism allows anyone outside BII to report alleged breaches of the business integrity or environmental and social provisions of BII’s Policy on Responsible Investing. This includes breaches made by BII, a BII investee, or a portfolio company of a fund in which BII has invested. The Reporting and Complaints Mechanism Rules are available here. Reports and complaints can be submitted by email to reportsandcomplaints@bii.co.uk or by mail. See more details on our Reporting and Complaints Mechanism here.

For any other general enquiries contact us at enquiries@bii.co.uk

  • Key facts

    Last updated

    When the last quarterly update of the website database occurred.

    :
    June 2024
    Project number

    An identifier number shared by investments in the same project.

    :
    D5627
    Status

    The current status of the investment (green flag for active and red flag for exited).

    :
    Active
    Region

    The geographical region where the country is located. We currently invest in Africa, South Asia, South East Asia and the Caribbean. In 2023, BII’s investment mandate was extended allowing it to invest in regional funds linked to Ukraine, with the majority of activity expected to begin post-war. Investments outside these regions were made prior to 2012 under previous investment mandates.

    :
    Africa
    Sector

    We prioritise those sectors that facilitate development and need our capital the most. Our priority sectors contribute towards many of the Sustainable Development Goals. They range from investing in the power infrastructure that will provide people with better access to electricity, to investing in financial institutions that direct capital to the individuals and businesses that need it the most.

    :
    Consumer - other services, Financial services

    We provide capital in the following ways: directly – through direct equity, direct debt, guarantees and other non-intermediated financial instruments; and indirectly – principally through investment funds.

    For direct investments and fund investments, this is the date BII committed capital to the investments. This is typically the date on which legal agreements are signed by all parties.

    For the portfolio companies of our fund investments, this is the date (either the month or the quarter) on which the fund committed capital to the portfolio company.

    For direct equity investments, this is the date at which British International Investment exited the investment.

    For debt investments, this is the date at which the final debt repayment was made.

    For funds, this is the date at which the fund was terminated.

    For underlying fund investments, this is the date at which the fund manager exited the investment.

    The total amount committed, per financial instrument, per investment, on the date BII becomes subject to a binding legal obligation to provide funding or assume a contingent liability. This information is provided in US dollars.

    For direct investments, this is the amount that BII has committed to the business or project. For fund investments, this is the amount BII has committed to the fund.

    The currency in which the investment was made.

    Investment type :
    Fund
    Start date :
    December 2022
    Amount :
    $15.61m
    Currency of investment :
    EUR
    Fund Manager:
    Partech Partners SAS
    Domicile

    The company or investment fund’s place of incorporation.

    :
    France

Investments made by this fund into companies:

For further information about these companies, visit https://partechpartners.com/

Investment name Country Region Sector Start date Status
Foondamate, Inc South Africa Southern Africa Consumer - Education June 2024 Active
Foondamate, Inc South Africa Southern Africa Consumer - Education June 2024 Active

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