P1 Ventures, a local venture capital firm, has welcomed the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a division of the World Bank, as its first public institutional investor after successfully raising $35 million in Fund II.
With an investment from IFC, P1 has already closed a second closure of US$35 million for its second fund. P1’s early-stage tech entrepreneurs will find it simpler to obtain growth capital, expand their businesses, and draw in more funds thanks to the IFC cooperation.
P1 Ventures, a high-conviction investor founded in 2020, is on a mission to promote Africa’s top entrepreneurs who are using cutting-edge technologies, like generative AI, to disrupt traditional industries, like healthcare, retail, and agriculture.
It focuses especially on supporting seasoned business owners and recurring entrepreneurs with validated products and successful software business models that can grow capital efficiently and get momentum with clients early on.
Some of the companies in its portfolio are Yassir from Algeria, MoneyFellows from Egypt, Reliance Health from Nigeria, and Chari from Morocco.
In the meantime, to better utilize AI in its talent and dealflow sourcing, the venture capital firm has also grown its internal data science team.
“We’re seeing an unprecedented rate of innovation, high-quality founders, and strong resilience across Africa. As international investors retreat, we’ve stayed contrarian. We’ve leaned into the most attractive investment opportunities and believe this will be one of the best vintage years for regional venture capital funds. Similar to what happened in Latin America a couple of years ago, local VCs have a great opportunity to back great founders at better entry valuations as markets begin to normalize,” Hisham Halbouny, P1 Ventures co-founder and managing partner, said.
P1 will be able to focus more on industries like fintech and AI-powered SaaS, where Africa has significant unrealized potential and a competitive economic edge, thanks to the funds.
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