Abu Dhabi-based Mubadala Investment Company (Mubadala) and Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, have announced a joint investment in global technology investment firm Partech’s latest Africa-focused venture capital (VC) fund, Partech Africa II.
Partech Africa II has now reached its hard cap of €280 million, making it the largest venture capital fund dedicated to technology startups in Africa.
The fund will provide $1 million to $15 million initial tickets from Seed to Series C rounds, to support African companies and founders on their growth journey in domestic and international markets and to address some of the hard-to-solve but very broad opportunities the continent offers across all sectors.
“Africa is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for venture capital, and we are delighted to announce our first investment through the €350 million Africa co-investment partnership with Bpifrance,” said Andres Rodenas de la Vega, Head of the France Investment Programme at Mubadala.
“Over the years, we have developed a strong working relationship with Bpifrance through our France Investment Programme, and we look forward to continuing our close collaboration on a number of investments going forward.”
The pledge is the first investment made through Mubadala and Bpifrance’s Africa co-investment partnership.
Bpifrance is also an investor in Partech’s first Africa fund, Partech I, which achieved a final close of €125 million in January 2019. The fund comprises a portfolio that operates in 27 countries on the continent, attracting more than 10% of the VC investments in Africa in 2021 and 2022.
“Bpifrance has been a long-standing supporter of Partech, in France for several decades and in Africa since the launch of Partech Africa I in 2018,” said Bpifrance’s Head of European and International Affairs, Isabelle Bébéar. “We are pleased and proud not only to renew our support to Partech for this second pan-African fund that will address the continent’s growing technological challenges, but to do so alongside, Mubadala, another historical partner.”
Last month, Mubadala also announced it had formed a $1 billion partnership with Goldman Sachs to co-invest in private credit opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region.
