Flourish Ventures unveils structured investment program for pre-seed stage technology

The platform seeks to mentor between 25-30 African entrepreneurs who will receive up to USD200,000(Sh24.2million) each in addition to the customized mentorship and world-class company-building support they will get.

The investment program aims to address systemic challenges such as limited access to capital, industry networks, mentorship, and structured training that most early-stage founders in Africa face.

The program will also incorporate mentorship sessions that will be done by a well-curated panel of seasoned African operators to help inspire the participants in the Madica investment program, which targets underrepresented entrepreneurs in underserved sectors and geographies across the continent.

Head of Madica Emmanuel Adegboye noted that even though there is a surge of investment in the continent, most funding is always targeted towards a few well-networked entrepreneurs thus disadvantaging other tech hubs, a challenge Madica seeks to address.

“Unlike other programs, Madica is sector-agnostic and intends to double on providing hands-on support, extensive resources, access to networks and more. Therefore, in addition to $6M of investment capital, we have reserved an equal amount for programmatic support. We encourage founders across the continent to apply for our program. We believe Africans have an entrepreneurial spirit and one of Madica’s core goals is to ensure a level playing field for every African founder,” said Adegboye.

Mission-driven startups must have a minimum viable product (MVP), founder(s) who are engaged in the full-time operation and have received little or no institutional funding to be eligible to join Madica.

“We hope that Madica can help change the narrative around African start-ups, lower the perception of risk, attract more capital, inspire more founders and garner more media attention,” said Ameya Upadhyay, Venture Partner at Flourish Ventures.