ISC-F6L Africa Seed Fund (IFC-49845)

Countries
  • Egypt
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
B
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
May 31, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
ISC-Flat 6 Labs Africa Seed Fund I
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Equity
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 6.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 85.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS May 18, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Jan 31, 2025


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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

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.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

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. 

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

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.

Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

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.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

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

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

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If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org

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How it works