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A selection of African private equity deal, fundraising and exit announcements that came across our desk in August 2020.

Deals

Zebu Investment Partners, through its sophomore fund, the Africa Food Security Fund, acquired a majority stake in South African agtech company IQ Logistica (IQL). IQL is the owner and developer of a cloud-based platform used to collect, collate, and aggregate data for the purposes of tracing agricultural outputs and related key data as these progress through the value chain. This investment represents the fund’s first foray into the agtech sector.

DOB Equity, a Dutch family-backed impact investor in East Africa, has made a further investment in Tanga Fresh, the biggest dairy processor in Tanzania. Tanga Fresh has been a DOB Equity portfolio company since 2007.

Verod Capital announced the completion of the acquisition of 100% of AXA Mansard Pensions Limited, a licensed pension fund administrator that offers retirement savings accounts and pension fund administration services to both private and public sector employees in Nigeria. The transaction is subject to receipt of final approval from the National Pension Commission.

Private equity firm RMB Corvest has partnered with Mark Bowman, former managing director of SABMiller Africa, to acquire an equity interest in South African energy drinks business Switch.

Sanari Capital, backed by institutional investor 27four, has announced a R25 million ($1.5 million) investment in LightWare LiDAR, a South African company supplying microLiDAR sensor technology throughout the world.

Africa Foresight Group, a network of freelance management consultants in Africa, has raised over $700,000 in a seed round, led by investment firm Consonance Investment Managers and family office GFH Holdings.

Artificial intelligence company DataProphet raised a $6 million series-A funding round led by Knife Capital, joined by the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa and Norican Group, a leading foundry engineering and equipment company.

The I&P Afrique Entrepreneurs 2 (IPAE 2) fund, managed by Investisseurs & Partenaires, has invested in Soafiary, a Malagasy company operating in the agro-food sector. Soafiary is the first investment of the IPAE 2 fund in Madagascar.

WorkPay, a company that builds HR and payroll solutions for Africa, announced that it has raised $2.1 million, led by Kepple Africa Ventures. Other funds that participated in the seed round include Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Musha Ventures, P1 Ventures, and a number of angel investors.

Investment holding company Grand Parade Investments has renegotiated the terms of its agreement to sell its stakes in Burger King South Africa (BKSA) and Grand Foods Meat Plant (GFMP) to the ECP Africa Fund IV LLC, managed by private equity firm Emerging Capital Partners. The renegotiation places the value of BKSA at R570 million (about $32.9 million) and GFMP at R23 million (about $1.3 million). This represents a 15% reduction on the initial offer of R670 million (about $38.6 million) for BKSA and R27 million (about $1.6 million) for GFMP entered into in February 2020.

Fundraising

EFAfrica Group has raised $12 million for regional expansion and acquired EFTA, Tanzania’s leading SME equipment finance business. The funding was raised from investors including KfW on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Small Foundation and the Mennonite Economic Development Association. EFTA’s shareholders, including AgDevCo and Equity for Africa Ltd, will become shareholders in EFAfrica Group.

The National Pension Service, South Korea’s state pension fund, has committed between $100 million and $200 million to Actis Energy 5, an energy and infrastructure fund set up by private equity firm Actis, according to Korean Investors. Actis Energy 5, Actis’ fifth green energy infrastructure fund, raised $2.9 billion for its first close, with commitments from more 20 institutional investors. Actis is targeting a final close of $4 billion for the fund.

The SEAF Morocco Growth Fund (SMGF) has welcomed ASMA Invest as a new investor. ASMA Invest, a leading institutional investor in Morocco, joins fund shareholders La Caisse Centrale de Garantie, La Caisse Marocaine des Retraites, Bank of Africa (BMCE Bank), USAID (Wise Venture Capital) and the SEAF group. SMGF invests in innovative startups and SMEs with high growth potential, targeting the Moroccan and international markets.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has committed a $5 million loan to BIX Capital. BIX Capital is an Amsterdam-based investment vehicle initiated by the Shell Foundation, Cardano Development and FOUNT to provide debt financing to SMEs. The loan from DFC will be used to provide debt financing to SMEs that enable access to high-impact products such as cookstoves and water purification systems to benefit low-income households, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa.

Exits

Africa-focused investor AHL Venture Partners exited its investment in the Energy Access Fund, managed by responsAbility. In addition, AHL closed its debt position in Zambian agribusiness company COMACO.