Author: daba

Le capital-risque en Afrique : 10 leçons d’un investisseur de capital-risque en phase d’amorçage – Iyin Aboyeji

Daba a récemment eu l’honneur de s’entretenir avec Iyin Aboyeji, partenaire fondateur de Future Africa, au sujet des immenses possibilités d’investissement en capital-risque en Afrique. En tant que l’un des principaux investisseurs dans les startups en phase de d’amorçage sur le continent, Iyin a partagé des informations précieuses tirées de son expérience d’investissement dans plus de 100 startups en Afrique.

Dans cet article de blog, j’aborderai les 10 principales leçons à tirer pour les investisseurs qui cherchent à exploiter le vaste potentiel de l’Afrique en matière de startups et de capital-risque :

#1 S’associer à des gestionnaires de fonds de capital-risque africains expérimentés

S’associer à des gestionnaires de fonds de capital-risque expérimentés et spécialisés dans l’Afrique peut considérablement améliorer les résultats de chaque investisseur. Leur expertise en matière de localisation et leur accès privilégié aux startups les plus prometteuses du continent sont inestimables.

#2 Adopter un état d’esprit à long terme

Adoptez un état d’esprit à long terme adapté aux écosystèmes de capital-risque naissants mais en plein développement de l’Afrique. À l’instar de la Silicon Valley dans les années 1970, la patience est essentielle.

#3 La pensée contraire permet de découvrir les valeurs sûres

Évitez la pensée de groupe consensuelle. Penser à contre-courant et nager à contre-courant est la clé pour découvrir les opportunités de startups aberrantes dans les 54 pays d’Afrique.

#4 L’évaluation de l’opportunité du marché est primordiale

L’évaluation minutieuse de l’opportunité du marché et du potentiel de résolution des problèmes est encore plus importante que la force de l’équipe ou du produit.

#5 Établir des relations solides avec les fondateurs

Établir des relations étroites avec les fondateurs de startups africaines et leur servir de conseillers de confiance.

#6 Co-investir stratégiquement avec des pairs bien connectés

Le co-investissement avec des pairs bien connectés et axés sur l’Afrique peut fournir un flux d’opérations et un accès au financement de suivi.

#7 Tirer parti des liens avec les entreprises

Tirer parti des liens avec les entreprises sur le continent pour aider les startups du portefeuille à obtenir les premiers clients de référence et à se développer plus rapidement.

#8 Effectuer un contrôle préalable approfondi

Soyez très sélectif et procédez à des vérifications préalables approfondies, en vous appuyant sur les connaissances et le contexte du marché africain local.

#9 Adapter son approche de l’investissement

Adaptez continuellement votre approche d’investissement, en diversifiant ou en concentrant les capitaux en fonction de l’évolution du paysage économique africain.

#10 Rester concentré sur les rendements

Restez concentré sur l’obtention de rendements élevés, ce qui attire d’autres apports de capitaux de la part des LPs et renforce la crédibilité du capital-risque africain en tant que classe d’actifs.

En résumé, l’investissement prudent en capital-risque en Afrique nécessite une vision, de la patience, des relations, un savoir-faire en matière de réglementation et une agilité dans la stratégie d’investissement. Suivez les enseignements de pionniers comme Iyin Aboyeji pour participer avec succès à la vaste histoire de la croissance à long terme de l’Afrique.

Vous pouvez consulter l’intégralité de la discussion à l’adresse suivante : https://www.youtube.com/live/-Tx6wRjV0UU?si=3TZ03PjxJg2Wy4mc

November 17, 2023
The Case for VC in Africa: 10 Lessons From Iyin Aboyeji

Daba recently had the honor of speaking with Iyin Aboyeji, Founding Partner of Future Africa, about the immense opportunities for venture capital investments across Africa. As one of the continent’s foremost early-stage startup investors, Iyin shared invaluable insights from his experiences investing in over 100 startups in Africa.

In this blog post, I’ll be covering the top 10 lessons for investors looking to tap into Africa’s vast startup and venture capital potential:

#1 Partner with Experienced Africa VC Fund Managers

Partnering with seasoned Africa-focused venture capital fund managers can greatly boost individual investor outcomes. Their localization expertise and superior access to the continent’s most high-potential startup deals are invaluable.

#2 Embrace a Long-Term Mindset

Adopt a long-term mindset fitting of Africa’s nascent but rapidly developing venture capital ecosystems. Similar to Silicon Valley in the 1970s, patience is vital.

#3 Contrarian Thinking Uncovers Outliers

Avoid consensus group-think. Contrarian thinking and swimming against the tide is key to uncovering outlier startup opportunities across Africa’s 54 diverse countries.

#4 Evaluating Market Opportunity is Paramount

Carefully evaluating the addressable market opportunity and problem-solving potential is even more important than strength of team or product.

#5 Build Strong Founder Relationships

Developing close relationships with and serving as trusted advisors to African startup founders is crucial to VC investment success.

#6 Co-Invest Strategically With Connected Peers

Co-investing alongside well-connected, Africa-focused peers can provide deal flow and follow-on financing access.

#7 Leverage Corporate Ties

Leverage corporate ties on the continent to help portfolio startups secure those critical first reference customers and scale more quickly.

#8 Conduct Extensive Due Diligence

Be highly selective and conduct extensive due diligence, drawing from localized African market insights and context.

#9 Adapt Your Investment Approach

Continuously adapt your investment approach, diversifying or concentrating capital as necessitated by changing African economic landscapes.

#10 Remain Returns Focused

Stay focused on driving strong returns, which attracts further capital inflows from LPs and builds credibility in African VC as an asset class.

In summary, prudent venture capital investing in Africa requires vision, patience, relationships, regulatory know-how, and investment strategy agility. Follow these key lessons from pioneers like Iyin Aboyeji to successfully participate in Africa’s vast long-term growth story.

You can view the full discussion here https://www.youtube.com/live/-Tx6wRjV0UU?si=3TZ03PjxJg2Wy4mc

November 17, 2023
Orange CI IPO: A Lucrative Opportunity Through Daba

Daba, a ground-breaking mobile investment app in Africa, has changed the African investment landscape, particularly for retail investors. Its recent achievement of enabling individuals to participate in the December 2022 initial public offering (IPO) of Orange CI underscores Daba’s commitment to democratizing access to African investment opportunities.

The Orange IPO, a milestone in the African telecommunications sector, seemed initially exclusive to institutional investors. However, Daba, a leading African investment platform, bridged this gap. Through our user-friendly mobile investment app, retail investors effortlessly connected with the IPO. This access to private company investing in Africa promises rewarding dividends from the renowned telecom operator.

Users found navigating the IPO process on Daba’s mobile investment app a breeze. From registering interest to purchasing Orange shares, the simplified process negated complexities usually linked with such investments. As such, investing in African companies, particularly tech and fintech companies, has become more accessible.

“I couldn’t have participated in the Orange Cote d’Ivoire IPO if it weren’t for Daba. They offer unique African investment strategies and opportunities, and I am excited for more,” one user said. Another added, “As an Ivorian, Daba allowed me to invest safely and easily in one of my favorite companies before it went public.”

Now, with the announcement of dividends, retail investors who trusted Daba’s solution are anticipating substantial African investment returns. After realizing a profit dividend of 153.485 billion FCFA in 2022, Orange CI decided to offer 126 billion FCFA to shareholders. This allocation represents 82% of the group’s profit, promising each Orange CI share a net dividend of 752.76 FCFA. Given the share price of 9,575 FCFA on May 31, that’s a yield of 7.86%.

Daba’s transformative impact on the African investment landscape is significant. By democratizing access to IPOs, this innovative startup has leveled the playing field in African capital markets. It’s broken down barriers and opened a world of opportunities for those previously excluded from such ventures.

As dividends roll in, Daba continues to pave the way for retail investors in emerging African markets. Our platform allows anyone with a smartphone to capitalize on lucrative African investment trends and secure a brighter financial future.

Ready to join the future of investing in Africa? Download Daba, your gateway to investment opportunities in Africa, and start your investment journey today!

June 7, 2023
Daba Participates in BuuPass’ $1.3m Pre-seed Round

Congratulations to BuuPass – Bus, Train & Flight bookings on their fundraising round and recent successes. We are excited to have enabled institutional and individual investors to invest in the company’s journey.

BuuPass is a B2B2C full-stack marketplace for sales and ticketing management for long-distance transport industry (bus, shuttle, train & flight) in the East African region.

The Problem: Transport services in Africa are highly fragmented and undigitized.

The Solution: A digital fullstack marketplace where transport operators can digitize their operations and increase sales via Buupass marketplace & partners and Travelers can search, compare and book their tickets.

At Daba Finance, we have a strong focus on driving capital into companies that are creating positive change and driving innovation in their respective industries. With a $40B domestic travel and transport market in Africa and $24B spent on bus tickets in Sub Saharan Africa, BuuPass is well-positioned to make a significant impact on the transportation sector.

Here are 5 reasons why investors liked BuuPass, why we listed the company and what made their capital raise a success:

1️⃣ Strong Traction and First Mover Advantage : BuuPass is the first transport marketplace in East Africa with a 73% 5-year CAGR since inception; the company reached break-even in July 2021.

2️⃣ Interoperability: BuuPass’s interoperability across multiple apps is a competitive moat; the integration of the M-PESA super app allows it to access over 500M+ mobile money users (potential customers)

3️⃣ Experienced Team: Sonia Kabra and Wyclife Omondi are amazing. The team has solid experience from World Bank, Airtel, safari com, andela, and SWVL along with a street-smart attitude. The team equally has high quality advisors.

4️⃣ Current Investors: Current investors in this round include Five35 Ventures , Founders Factory Africa, Changecom Capital, Google for Startups Black Founders Fund Program, Maxime Bayen, and Nairobi Business Angel Network. These investors have invested in notable companies such as Zazuu, Zuri Health, Shuttlers, Bitmama, Africa Foresight Group, ImaliPay among others.

5️⃣ Social Impact: BuuPass is addressing a key challenge in the transportation system across East Africa as it is making commuting easier and more convenient for individuals.

We look forward to following the growth and success of BuuPass.

To find more about how Daba powers investing in Africa opportunities for individual and professional investors visit our webpage or connect with our team – https://bit.ly/dabawebsite

Read Techcrunch article here https://tcrn.ch/3XwgcKg

February 19, 2023
Daba Joins Spleet’s $2.6m Seed Round for Affordable Apartments

daba Finance, a startup that enables investing in Africa’s best private and public companies seamlessly, has participated in a $2.6 million seed funding round by Nigeria-based Spleet, which provides residential rent management and financing products.

daba was launched in 2021 with a simple mission—to democratize investing in Africa by providing a barrier-free way for investors (of every level) to access curated investment strategies and build wealth by investing in the African private and public capital markets, through its all-in-one platform.

What is Spleet?

Spleet was founded in 2018, and its mission is to build a marketplace to connect landlords with vetted tenants looking for flexible rent payment options.

Image from Spleet

Why Spleet?

Spleet is one of the foremost startups disrupting Africa’s real estate and property market, which unlike industries such as financial services, has remained unchanged for decades. It has a focus on affordability, which remains a big pain point for residents in urban areas. This is partly because most tenants earn their incomes monthly and often find it difficult to afford the typical 1-2 years of advance rent demanded by homeowners.

Since its inception, Spleet has processed millions in rent, housed over 1,000 tenants with flexible payment options, and onboarded over 35 individual and corporate landlords.

What next?

According to Spleet CEO, Akintola Adesanmi, the funding will go into deepening its product offerings for landlords, real estate agents, and tenants across Nigeria while also testing out new markets.

“daba is proud to partner with Spleet on further scaling its robust solution that caters to the crucial needs of both sides of the housing market,” said Boum III Jr, co-founder and CEO of daba. “We’re even more motivated to help more investors back more of such companies and qualified ventures bypass the traditional barriers to accessing capital.”

Don’t miss the opportunity to invest in the next big startup. Tap here to download the daba beta application and use access code: daba3SJPov to start investing

October 4, 2022
An Angel Investor’s Guide to Startup Investing
With startups making the news and causing a ruckus for raising ridiculous amounts of funding and the VCs all swooping in to have a piece these last years, there has been a lot of talk on “startup investing” and how to go about it.

This article is here to help you break it down and thoroughly understand what it is and how to get the maximum benefit from it with daba.

Startup investing like a VC but cheaper

What is a startup?

A “startup” refers to an early-stage company founded and owned by one or more entrepreneurs, often with a new product or service and an untested business model. After finding a product-market fit, the goal is often to grow and expand rapidly, therefore, startups generally start with high costs and limited revenue. To achieve this, they look for capital from a variety of sources such as venture capitalists.

For a long time, investments in private companies like startups were reserved for ONLY accredited investors (people with a high net worth or an investment company e.g., venture capital firms) due to the large amounts required for startup investments and the high risk involved.

But with the advent of crowdfunding and law changes in lots of countries, people 18 and older can now invest in startups and gain high returns.

Why startups?

Startup investing, though risky like every other type of investment, has the potential to produce very high returns on investment if proper research and due diligence are done.

An example is Paystack, the Nigeria-based payments startup that makes it easy for businesses to accept secure payments from multiple local and global payment channels.

In 2020, US payment company Stripe acquired Paystack in a deal worth over $200 million. The angel investors who invested in the seed round of Paystack in 2016 made approximately 1,440% ROI, 14.4x their investment in just five years.

These show that although investing in startups could be risky, it could also be rewarding.

Now imagine if you had invested in 2017…..

How do you value a startup?

Before investing in a startup, it’s important to know the company’s value in actual figures. This provides insight into its ability to use the new capital to grow, and meet customer and investor expectations.

But deducing a startup valuation can be difficult. This is because company valuation is done using historical financial performance. However, most startups don’t generate profits or even revenue for a few years after starting, thus using traditional metrics for early-stage valuations doesn’t apply.

Generally, a startup valuation accounts for factors like your team’s expertise, product, assets, business model, total addressable market, competitor performance, market opportunity, goodwill, and more.

Valuing a startup is both an art and a science and some of the best ways to go about it include the cost to duplicate, market multiples, discounted cash flow, and valuation by stage.

Ways to invest in early-stage startups:
1. Equity investment: investors purchase shares in a startup at a fixed price
2. Investing in convertible securities: the investment amount is eventually converted to equity
3. Use a trusted investment platform like daba, sign up here for African startups
How do I choose startups to invest in?

Before investing in startups, it’s necessary to conduct your due diligence; a series of checks an investor might run on a startup to confirm that the investment is a good strategic fit and to identify potential red flags. Due diligence allows investors to make informed investment decisions and mitigate risk.

How do I get a return on my investment?

Startup investors can get returns when:

i) The company is bought by a bigger organization

ii) The startup goes public

iii) Dividend payments (if the business is successfully trading, and the founders are not looking for an exit via sale or IPO, they may reward investors by paying out regularly or through a one-time special dividend)

iv) Selling your stake in the company

v) Revenue from the day-to-day running of the startup

Startup investing is very risky (90% of startups fail in their first five years) but can be highly rewarding for investors willing to sit tight until the startup matures.

As the saying goes in finance; the riskier the asset, the higher the return. This is evident in the technology sector. An example is Cisco’s $3.7 billion purchase of AppDynamics, app management, and analytics tool in 2017. The latter was launched in 2008 and had been through five funding rounds, suggesting several investors got sweet returns from the deal.

It’s important to note that the return on investment you get as an investor depends on the size of your stake in the startup and the valuation it’s based on.

How to get started?

There is no need to worry about how to source for startups, their valuation, founders, how much to invest, and monitoring your investment, daba can help you get started.

daba has created a simple app to access custom investment strategies and build wealth by investing in Africa’s best private and public market opportunities.

In addition to this, daba offers resources help you sharpen your knowledge and make more informed investment decisions.

Register to get early access to daba here.
September 1, 2022
QA Session and Deeper Dive With Daba Co-Founders

About six months ago, daba quietly launched its digital presence on a host of social media platforms in addition to a pre-launch landing page that encouraged signups to its growing waitlist. Via our website and social media accounts, we informed curious community members of what daba’s platform would do while they awaited the launch of our beta app. With a simple mission, to democratize investing in Africa, daba provides a barrier-free way for investors (of every level) to access curated investment strategies and build wealth by investing in the African private and public capital markets.

But there’s much more to the story.

Understanding the who, what, and why behind daba; paints a bigger picture for those who are hesitant to begin their African investment journey. Below, co-founders Boum III Jr and Anthony Miclet answer some of the most frequently asked questions in anticipation for the app’s awaited upcoming beta launch.

Q: SO TELL US WHY, WHAT’S THE REASON FOR daba?

After spending several months researching and having experienced how cumbersome it is to invest in promising African companies; we came to the conclusion that there’s a steep chasm between the capital needs of growing companies and investors looking to invest in promising opportunities in Africa. daba’s platform addresses this gap and provides a platform to safely drive capital in and out of the African capital markets, allowing opportunity and demand for capital to seamlessly intersect.

Simply put, our app makes it easy for African companies to access capital while providing investors an easy and convenient way to access these companies.

Q: WHY IS NOW THE BEST TIME TO INVEST IN AFRICA?

According to the World Economic Forum, more than half of the world’s fastest-growing economies are right on the African continent. Like Anthnoy mentioned, there’s a significant disparity in the status of stock exchanges and investment avenues in Africa. Many of these challenges are a result of poor governance, minimal investor confidence, and narrow pathways providing continuity between each of them. Simply put this presents a massive opportunity in Africa and because there are minimal channels for interested parties to get involved and change the tide… taking advantage now is very promising. I wouldn’t want to miss out!

Q: WAIT… WHAT DOES daba MEAN

daba is an acronym that stands for Democratizing Access to Business in Africa. Not to mention, “daba” is also a tool used for agriculture In Ivory Coast that closely resembles a shovel; daba is the people’s tool for investing in Africa.

Q: WHEN WILL THE BETA APP LAUNCH? IS THERE A COST TO JOIN?

Though our launch is contingent upon securing the necessary licenses, we anticipate releasing our invite only beta in late April / early May. We will slowly allow early members (those who joined the waitlist several months ago) to test out the beta app. From there on, we will collect feedback, iterate and then give access to all registered users by July.

The application is completely free to download and use, however, we offer a premium subscription for investors who are looking to access investment reports as well as our pre-built managed investment portfolios which support their wealth journey by aligning with their investment goals and values.

Q: I’VE SEEN YOUR DAILY INVESTOR UPDATES, WHAT’S THAT ABOUT?

At daba, we’re committed to becoming your preferred tool for investing in Africa and understand that in order to do so with confidence, you’ll need the insights to make informed investment decisions. Daily Investor Updates are a streamlined and digestible way for daba users to stay up-to-date with a high-level summary of the latest tech actions and our analyst’s takeaways on how the news impacts the African capital markets.

Q: IS THERE A SUGGESTED DOLLAR AMOUNT TO GET STARTED WITH INVESTING?

That’s a great question! While this is certainly relative to every financial situation, you can get started with $50 — or even much less! The most important thing (and the way to build larger investment portfolios) is to just get started! Building wealth is a journey, not a race. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll see results.

Q: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DEMOCRATIZE INVESTING IN AFRICA?

We want to make it easy for anyone to invest in African Public and Private markets via one simple, transparent and safe investment platform. We believe that Africa represents a massive opportunity that is underinvested and we want everyone to access it.

Q: WILL daba SERVE COUNTRIES OUTSIDE OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT?

Maybe one day, but it’s just far too early to say. Right now, we are focused on the African continent, which already covers 54 countries. We believe that if we are able to facilitate investments in Africa, we will be able to do so across other emerging markets as well. We are building financial rails that are applicable everywhere. The sky is truly the limit but we take it one step at a time.

Q. WHAT ARE daba’s FOUNDERS MOST EXCITED ABOUT?

Anthony: I’m really looking forward to breaking down both the perceived and actual barriers that exist for investing in Africa. With daba, it’s easy for anyone, regardless of their investment savvy or geographic location, to access the African financial markets. That’s going to help a lot of people continue to build or even kick off their wealth journey, it’s really exciting.

Boum: I’m excited about unlocking the true economic potential Africa represents. Africa is literally the last frontier of investing and 1 out of 4 people on Earth will be from Africa in the next 2 decades, yet the amount of capital being invested in the region is nowhere near what it should or could be. Once investment into the opportunities on the African continent, the world will realize how much potential remains untapped. Building daba ,contributing to ushering the future of investing in Africa and creating a reality where investing in Africa is as easy as it is today in the US and other developed markets, is something I am very excited about and particularly proud of.

To learn more about daba and how to join our growing global community of investors, visit dabafinance.com or connect with us on LinkedIn!

May 10, 2022