Outlierz Ventures says COVID-19 crisis is accelerating the digitalization of the African continent, thus creating new opportunities that Outlierz Ventures has been successfully capturing
The company said today in a statement that tech companies digitizing fundamental needs have been growing faster during the pandemic and that from banking to insurance, to retail and logistics, new players are strategically positioning themselves to reinvent key industries’ business models.
A trend demonstrated by the recent acquisition of the Nigerian fintech, Paystack, for more than $200 million by US digital payment leader Stripe for its expansion plans in Africa.
What Outlierz Ventures MP said
According to the its Managing Partner, Kenza Lahlou, “we are delighted to announce our new investments in three African technology companies and are very proud of the outstanding results of our portfolio. The African market represents a huge opportunity to build innovative tech-enabled platforms that transform traditional business models across key sectors of the economy. The crisis we are currently experiencing is accelerating this digital transformation. This has been demonstrated by the recent acquisition of Paystack, a Nigerian fintech in payments, by the US leader, Stripe valued at $34B+, for over $200 million last October. This is a major event in the African tech ecosystem that, we are confident will catalyze others.”
Outlierz Ventures is the Africa-focused Morocco-based B2B VC fund which has been actively investing in fast-growing tech companies transforming Africa key industries. With three new investments in 2020, the fund currently manages eight investments across the continent’s key hubs, it added.
Officially started in January 2019, the fund has made a total of eight investments across its four priority African markets: Morocco, Egypt, Nigeria, and Kenya, as well as in a European companies led by African diaspora entrepreneurs. Four of the eight companies (50%) operate in retail and logistics: WaystoCap (Morocco), Sokowatch (Kenya), MaxAB (Egypt), and TousFacteurs (France/diaspora), three in FinTech: Bamboo (Nigeria), YouVerify (Nigeria), and Asoko Insights (Sub-Saharan Africa), and one in healthtech: Healthlane (Cameroon & Nigeria).
The COVID-19 health crisis has created new opportunities for Outlierz Ventures, particularly in the FinTech and HealTech sectors where the team has made three new investments since the beginning of 2020:
- YouVerify (Nigeria): automating and digitizing the KYC-check process (Know-Your-Customer) to enable corporates such as banks and telecom operators to digitally verify the identity of their customers and provide them with remote services.
- Bamboo (Nigeria): democratizing investment and access to capital markets by enabling Nigerians to seamlessly invest in the U.S. stock market from a mobile app directly connected to their Nigerian bank account.
- Healthlane (Cameroon and Nigeria) offers a premium healthcare service in public hospitals, thus increasing their capacity and efficiency, in addition to digital services such as online appointment booking, telemedicine, and access to laboratory test results on a mobile app.
Most of the fund’s portfolio companies have been positively impacted by the COVID-19 crisis as they are solving fundamental problems, thus have been demonstrating a steady growth. Consequently, Outlierz Ventures has been able to achieve a remarkable performance in a short period of time with an outstanding fund return multiple to date, compared to the global venture capital industry standards.
Outlierz Ventures was founded by a team of African entrepreneurs and investment professionals with the ambition to back extraordinary founders at early stages and actively participate in the rise of the continent’s next success stories.
Kenza Lahlou, has been selected this year to join the highly-selective circle of Kauffman Fellows dedicated to VC fund managers around the world. Outlierz Ventures is one of the few African funds to be part of this global network.
