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The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved €7 million equity investment in Partech Africa Fund (PAF). The equity investment, approved yesterday in Abidjan by the Board of Directors of the bank, will boost AfDB’s efforts in channelling investment funding to entrepreneurs in Africa.

PAF is an initiative of Partech, a global investment platform for tech and digital companies, targeted at nine Sub-Saharan African countries, namely: Cameroun, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. The fund focuses on promoting financial inclusion through investment fintech, insuretech and off-grid energy firms. The fund also focuses more broadly on the adoption of technology in enterprises, especially those in the education, logistics and transport, health, and agriculture value chain.

According to a statement by the AfDB, the €7 million equity investment will be provided under the Boost Africa Programme in the second round of the PAF’s fund raising, which closes in November. The AfDB is also expected to join the advisory board of the PAF.

Contributions from both the AfDB and the European Investment Bank form part of the Boost Africa Programme. The focus of PAF aligns with the objective of the programme to invest in high-growth innovative startups with a strong social outreach and impact.

“By participating in the fund, the Bank (AfDB) will support the successful launch of the first large Venture Capital fund covering four key regions in Africa, supporting entrepreneurs to leverage additionality and technology to develop affordable, user-centred products and services and market driven complementarity,” said Stefan Nalletamby, Director of Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialisation Department at the AfDB.

The investment is also in line with the AfDB’s Private Sector Operations strategy, which links entrepreneurship, investment and economic growth with poverty alleviation and sustainable growth development outcomes and impact. It also aligns with the High 5 priorities of the AfDB as the deal flow will also cater for small industrializing startups, off-grid energy startups and entrepreneurs operating in the agriculture value chain.

Earlier in January, PAF had raised €71 million in the first round of its fund raising. It targets to raise a minimum of €100 million in this second round.

Currently with offices in Berlin, Dakar, Paris and San Francisco, Partech plans to open an office-hub in Lagos. Founded in 1982, Partech has 140 companies in its portfolio across 20 countries.