The Africa Tech Summit, a high profile event that takes place this week in London on June 23rd 2023, has selected 12 Startups from this continent that will showcase at an event that will also have provide them with opportunities to network with high networth investors from all over the world.
These startups are from Kenya, Nigeria, UK, Egypt, South Africa, Zambia and Tanzania.
“Apart from providing a platform for African ventures that are seeking for opportunities at the London Stock Exchange, we will also focus on having discussions on opportunities and what is happening around the payments space across the world, finance, insuretech, crypto currency, agriculture including food security and climate change implications,” said Andrew Fassnidge, Founder of Africa Tech Summit.
Africa Tech Summit speaks to Kenyan Wallstreet
In an interview with Kenyan Wallstreet, Fassnidge said the upcoming summit in London seeks to connect the continent’s startups with corporates, ventures and companies as well as partners, regulators, financiers and other key stakeholders across the world.
“This technology summit, which is on its 8th year, simply connects African technology leaders with global partners,” said Fassnidge.
This Tech Summit will bring African technology startups together while linking them with the right people worldwide while promoting a deeper understanding and collaboration that will fast forward the growth of the African tech ecosystem in Ghana, London and Nairobi.
“The amount of funding that has been raised has increased significantly over the years, an indication of how fast the continent’s tech companies have grown and their potential going into the future,” said Fassnidge.
Apart from top-range companies appearing at the London event, there will also be opportunities for small companies and discussions of newly emerging sectors such as the HealthTech space.
The London Tech Summit is taking place at a time when funding levels have decreased for many tech firms across the continent and the rest of the world.
“There has definitely been a slowdown in the level of funding for tech companies across Africa and the world, including the first quarter of this year where numbers have gone down drastically,” said Fassnidge.
He told Kenyan Wallstreet that there has been a decline in the number of leading investors coming into the continent and that many taps have certainly been turned off. The flow of funding that has been coming to African startups, especially cash from the USA, has certainly slowed down.
“In my view, while we still have a lot of great startup companies in Africa, the macro-economic environment has changed across the continent and worldwide, with inflation and interest rates on the rise in many regions. But we also have a lot of capital flowing around that has yet to be deployed to African technology firms,” said Fassnidge.
He added that there are still significant opportunities for the continent’s startups that are seeking to raise capital, especially those companies that are earning good revenues and have a long proven track record of financial performance.
“Despite a prevailing negative business environment on the continent, we still have the continent’s startups that are in good shape. We also have plenty of capital lying around that can be invested in African venture companies,” said Fassnidge.
He said the London Summit taking place this week provides an ideal opportunity for startups seeking to raise capital, and interact with high-end investors as well as an ideal platform for African companies that are seeking to expand their operations into Europe, especially Fintechs.
The list of these African Startups, who will also benefit from 2 days of content at the summit, include Kenya’s eBiashara and Waya as well as Astravest, Creditchek, Famasi Africa, Pivo and Quantum, all from Nigeria. Also featuring at the London summit is Knabu-based in the UK, Safiri App from Tanzania, Premier Credit (Zambia), Profitshare Partners (South Africa), and Zeal (Egypt).
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