The Botswana Tech Fund (BTF) has reached a US$6.7 million first close of its targeted US$64 million fund to invest in technology companies supporting digital growth across Southern Africa.
The BTF launched in April, structured to back founders from pre-seed through to growth stage. It aims to leverage Botswana’s relatively stable macroeconomic environment, strong governance framework, and high internet penetration to back scalable technology-enabled businesses within the wider Southern African Development Community (SADC).
It is being established as a strategic partnership between venture capital operators and family office investors. Launch Africa Ventures will act as investment adviser for phase one, while Pula Investments is the anchor investor. A first close of US$6.7 million has now been reached, though the long-term objective is the full US$64 million commitment target, which would position BTF as a significant source of early- and growth-stage capital for the region.
“Now the work begins. There is a significant opportunity to help close the digital gap between our target markets and more established technology ecosystems such as South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya,” the fund said.
“We look forward to backing ambitious founders who are building solutions capable of driving that change.”