88mph, an African seed accelerator, says it has invested\u00a0US$2 million (R20 million) into six Cape Town startups.<\/p>\n
In February, 88mph\u00a0selected 10 local startups out of more than 400 applications for its three-month accelerator programme in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the fund, Katie Sarro, told BusinessTech that “the fund is up more than 200% based on market valuations of the startups in our portfolio”.<\/p>\n
Overall, 88mph said it has invested US$3million (R30 million) in tech in Africa over the last 3 years, since its launch in\u00a0Nairobi, Kenya in 2011.<\/p>\n
In March, 88mph announced that\u00a04Di Capital<\/a>, an independent early-stage venture capital fund based in Cape Town, had invested in the private fund.<\/p>\n “We are now accepting applications for our Nairobi accelerator which will begin in August. We invest $15-100k (R150,000 – R1 million) per startup,”\u00a0Sarro noted.<\/p>\n “With an increasing middle-class, now at 313 million consumers (34% of Africa) and rapid urbanization, there is a huge demand for new tech products & services, making 88mph\u2019s arrival on the continent quite timely,” she said.<\/p>\n 88mph said special consideration is given to African diaspora or other entrepreneurs that have an understanding of the African markets.<\/p>\n Startups selected by 88mph in South Africa in February included:<\/p>\n 88mph in VC funding boost<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Seed tech investor reveals SA candidates<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n 88mph dangles $200k investment carrot<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Applications flood in for Cape tech fund<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n
More on SA startups<\/h3>\n