Convergence Partners, a private equity firm focusing on the technology industry in Sub-Saharan Africa, has raised USD120 million in the first close of its third fund, the Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF).
The fund aims to raise $250 million in total. Convergence Partners remains one of Africa’s largest private equity investor in digital infrastructure, with more than USD400 million in assets under management.
The CDC Group (the United Kingdom’s development finance institution), the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Proparco (the private sector arm of the Agence Française de Développement – AFD Group) are among the CPDIF’s investors.
The infrastructure demands of new growth themes in the digital infrastructure ecosystem, including as fiber, wireless, data centers, towers, and 5G, Cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), fintech, and network virtualisation, will drive CPDIF investments.
The fund also has a strong and measurable effect goal, boosting entrepreneurship, innovation, skills development, and job creation through its engagement in the development of Africa’s digital infrastructure.
“We are happy to have accomplished this milestone, particularly considering the difficulties in African PE fundraising generally, and the impact of the Covid epidemic on business activity, during the past 12 months,” says Brandon Doyle, CEO of Convergence Partners. We are very delighted with the degree of support we have received from both repeat and new investors, which we believe reflects our strong track record and the possibility CPDIF presents in both the tech and African contexts.”
“In the last 20 years, we have witnessed the exponential growth of internet access on the African continent,” says Andile Ngcaba, Chairman of Convergence Partners. Internet penetration has increased tenfold in Sub-Saharan Africa alone, compared to a threefold increase in the rest of the globe. We are proud to have contributed to this expansion as Convergence Partners through our multiple communication infrastructure investments across the continent.
Convergence Partners has made investments in submarine cable systems, geostationary satellites, terrestrial long-haul, metro, and access fiber, wireless networks, and data centers during the last 15 years.
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