Cairo - Sharikat Mubasher: Bpifrance, Sawari Ventures, and Flat6Labs announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) aimed at strengthening ties between Africa, Europe, and the Middle East in order to support French-speaking and African entrepreneurs in their development process across the three continents.
This took place on the occasion of the FrancoTech trade show, which was held on October 3 and 4, 2024 at Station F in Paris, in parallel with the International Francophonie Summit, according to a press release.
This memorandum of understanding underlines the importance of innovation for each party and the strategic importance of French-speaking Africa for Sawari Ventures, which opened a new office in Dakar, Senegal this year, in addition to its offices in Casablanca and Cairo.
Launched in 2010, Sawari Ventures is a venture capital firm based in Cairo, investing in knowledge and innovation-based technologies across North Africa with a goal to empower entrepreneurs in the region to create innovative solutions that will drive the region’s economies for years to come.
Flat6Labs is the MEA region’s leading seed and early-stage venture capital firm, currently running the most renowned startup programs in the region. Annually, Flat6Labs invests in more than 100 innovative and technology-driven startups enabling thousands of passionate entrepreneurs to achieve their daring ambitions and ultimately becoming their institutional co-founders.
Since 2013, Bpifrance (also known as the Banque publique d'investissement) is the one-stop shop for entrepreneurs with a vastly comprehensive toolbox offered in the field to customers through 50 local branches.
Bpifrance and the Group aim to strengthen ties between Africa, Europe, and the Middle East by facilitating market access and the development of innovative companies on the three continents.
They also aim to improve access to financing for innovative companies based in France that wish to develop their activities in Africa and for African companies that have R&D activities and operations in France.
They also aim to stimulate commercial and technological partnerships between European companies and African innovation companies. Finally, this partnership aims to accelerate co-investment opportunities between European and African venture capital companies.
The objective of the partnership is to identify French-speaking entrepreneurs qualified by Bpifrance and African entrepreneurs qualified by the Group, wishing to develop in the Europe/Africa/Middle East regions, on both sides, to support the financing as well as the technological and commercial development of their companies. The aim is also to promote co-investment opportunities between European investors and Sawari Ventures, particularly in deeptech – a key sector in which Sawari Ventures has proven to be a pioneer in Egypt and has demonstrated a solid track record.
To do this, the partners will rely on collaboration with various departments of Bpifrance that support entrepreneurship and the financing of innovation in the region, as well as with the EuroQuity online platform, created by Bpifrance, intended to facilitate the connection of investors with companies and their ecosystems at the European and international level.