Endeavor South Africa: Quarterly Newsletter, April 2023
Dear Friends of Endeavor
When the world seems to be shifting, constantly, or so it would seem — we wanted to reflect on the quiet, steady, bottom-up trends that are at play at Endeavor and across Africa, not just in the short term but in the long(er)term:
In the first quarter of 2023:
- We welcomed Fin to the Endeavor portfolio as Tim and Tonderai were selected in the 97th ISP in March as well as other new candidates.
- Endeavor Global Released their 2022 Impact Report
- We held our annual Harvest Fund II investor day in January, now with investments into 17 entrepreneurs, meaning that our fund is close to being fully invested.
- We announced the launch of our second rules-based co-investment fund Harvest Fund III targeting $30m (in partnership with USAID) to invest exclusively into Endeavor Entrepreneurs.
- TymeBank has been recognized as the bank with the lowest online transaction fees in South Africa by the Solidarity Report 2023.
- MFS Africa has teamed up with Western Union, the partnership will enable funds to be sent from countries around the world to mobile wallets across Africa. They held their investor day mid-March which was extremely well attended sharing the transformation post acquiring Beyonic, Baxi, and GTP.
- Ozow has partnered with Capitec amongst other players, to launch a simpler and more accessible payment solution for underserved consumers and businesses.
- Local scale-up business ExploreAI, announced the training of 25 000 data science students in 2023 and with data science being a critical skill for high-growth tech businesses, this is excellent news.
- Pargo attended and presented at the RiseUP conference in Egypt in March 2023, as they expand further North.
- Please join us at the Egypt Endeavor Gala celebrating High-Growth Entrepreneurship on the 19th of May 2023.
Upcoming events, locally & globally:
- Endeavor Pakistan office launch event in March 2023
- Global Endeavor Retreat, Istanbul. 16–18 Sept 2023 — Register here
- Endeavor Global Catalyst Fund has raised their 4th Fund, the biggest yet at $292m, to invest in Endeavor Entrepreneurs. Click here for more details on the upcoming Global Catalyst Investor meeting, San Francisco May 2023.
- It’s that time of year again where we partner with Untapped for the biannual Africa Showcase on the 4–6th May 2023, Cape Town. We look forward to seeing you at and around this event which showcases Sub-Saharan African entrepreneurs to US and international investors.
Growth has been constant in our portfolio. Over the past 3 years:
- 28 of the 29 Endeavor South Africa businesses (Series A and later stage) have rolled out their offering globally.
- 24 of the 31 Local Scale Up (SA SME Fund & Endeavor businesses (pre-Series A & Series A) have rolled out their offering globally.
- The network continues to grow, now providing access to 5 500 global mentors, 2 500 internationally selected ‘peer’ entrepreneurs, over 500 global investor partners, more than 150 local mentors in 41 countries and 40 offices.
- Endeavor Entrepreneurs in South Africa raised +$1bn from global VCs
And in other news in & around our network:
AI & Chat GPT continue to makes headlines
Tunisian Endeavor Entrepreneur Instadeep (deep tech focused on AI) announced a $630m exit to BioNTech, one of the largest in Africa to date.
Please join us for practical advice from experts, Andreas Cambitsis & Andre de Wet on the ‘Impact of AI and Chat GPT’. How to use Chat GPT (the worlds fastest growing app), what are the opportunities and challenges and how to leverage this in work, life and play? This Virtual Endeavor Connect Event is taking place on 5 April 2023 — sign up here if you haven’t already!
FT Partners ‘State of Fintech’ webinar as financial turmoil ripples through the system
Whilst the fallout from SVB and Credit Suisse ripples through the ecosystem, a symptom of a reversal of years of quantitative easing now termed ‘quantitative destruction’ by the FT, and defined as ‘ the systematic unwinding of the institutional structures that emerged and thrived in a decade of near-zero rates and easy liquidity’. Given we are now experiencing the largest, fastest, and broadest tightening of policy rates in 40 years, combined with central bank balances sheet reduction, there are shoes that have already dropped and some that may still be waiting to drop. In the meantime, FT Partners (arguably the leaders in Fintech advisory) held a webinar on the current State of Fintech on the 30th March with a stellar panel including global Endeavor mentor and Endeavor Board member Matt Harris from Bain Capital, and co-founder and managing partner of QED and Endeavor Board member, Nigel Morris. 2000 people dialled in and the call did not disappoint — you can listen here — it’s a goodie!
In conclusion, it has been a volatile quarter and one where we have seen management teams step up to the fore not just with regards to timeous and effective communication during the 48hr+ that surrounded SVB depositors, but also in supporting each other. What more can we ask of a network, this is the Endeavor way and one which made us proud.
Thank you for your contributions, and well done to the entrepreneurs for you impressive results and impact that continues to multiply, constantly.
We wish you a wonderful break over the holiday period and wherever you may find yourself — may it be in a place of rest and restoration for the year ahead.
Alison Collier
Managing Director: Endeavor South Africa
