Mauritius-headquartered venture capital firm Novastar Ventures has raised $108m from limited partners including insurance firm Axa for its second Africa-focused fund, TechMoran has reported.
Axa’s Impact Fund joined the European Union’s European Investment Bank (EIB), the state-owned Dutch Good Growth Fund and Proparco, Norfund, Sifem and CDC Group: development banks representing France, Norway, Switzerland and the UK respectively.
Multiple unnamed family offices also participated alongside unspecified investors from Novastar’s first fund, which closed at $80m in 2015 with backing from Axa Investment Management, financial services firms Triodos Bank and JP Morgan, CDC, Proparco, Norfund, EIB, Fisea and FMO.
Novastar targets startups located in East and West Africa and has built a 15-strong portfolio, investing from $250,000 for an early round, up to a total of $8m in each company. Its investments include off-grid solar system provider SolarNow and organic food supplier GreenPath.
The firm’s first fund was closed together with a $12.5m side fund dedicated to co-investments.
Steve Beck, co-founder and managing partner of Novastar, said: “We are grateful for our investing partners who have helped us capitalise NVAF II at the beginning of this difficult period. Many of the world’s most innovative, successful businesses today were born out of recessions and crises of various kinds.
“Our investment strategy is well suited to this environment. We back breakthrough businesses that serve the common good; ones that will have staying power and profoundly positive impact precisely because they are innovating ways to address basic needs and the biggest challenges in our region.”