According to the Bank’s website, IFC is considering an equity investment of up to US$6 million, processed under the IFC Startup Catalyst Program (“ISC”), in Africa Seed Fund Coöperatief U.A. (“Flat6Labs Africa” or the “Fund”), a Netherlands-based accelerator and VC fund focusing on pre-Seed/Seed stage investments in North, West, and East Africa. The Fund has a target size of US$85 million. The Fund will be managed by Flat6Labs For Financial Consulting S.A.E. (“Flat6Labs” or the “Fund Manager”). The Fund will be supported by the Blended Finance Facility (“BFF”) of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (“WeFi”).

The Fund is expected to increase access to seed and early-stage venture capital financing and value creation services for digital entrepreneurs in Africa. A material share of investees is expected to have a woman co-founder, thereby addressing gender divides in access to capital in the region. The project is also expected to contribute to create a competitive digital entrepreneurship ecosystem in Africa, by supporting the development of local VC markets, via demonstration and replication, enabling frameworks, and capacity building channels.

The project is an equity investment in a VC fund focusing on Seed stage technology-enabled companies in Africa. The Fund will invest at the pre-Seed to Seed stage as a first check investor, with follow-ons up to pre- Series A. Key targeted sectors include fintech, health-tech, logistics, climate-tech, ICT, and edtech which are expected to have potential limited adverse environmental and/or social risks or impacts that are few in number, generally site specific, largely reversible, and can be readily addressed through mitigation measures. Therefore, the proposed project has been classified as a Category FI-2 project according to IFC Sustainability Policy. 

The Fund is seeking to raise US$85 million with a hard-cap of US$100 million. IFC has proposed an equity investment of up to US$6 million with up to US$5 million from its own account equity and up to US$1 million provided by WeFi which will be subordinate to IFC’s US$5 million commitment to the Fund.

The Fund will be managed by Flat6Labs, a joint stock company incorporated under the laws of Egypt. The Fund’s General Partner will be F6L Africa GP B.V., a private limited liability company incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands. The current owners of the General Partner and the Fund Manager include Ramez El-Serafy and Dina el-Shenoufy. IFC has invested in three of Flat6Lab’s previous funds.

Flat6Labs for Financial Consulting
Dina el-Shenoufy
General Partner
+0235729077
dina@flat6labs.com
1 Dr. Mohamed Sobhy Street, Flat 5, Giza, Egypt
www.flat6labs.com

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