Byld Ventures has previously backed startups that were working on application programming interfaces (APIs) and infrastructural plays. This shows that the fund’s focus is narrower within the fintech sector.
Byld Ventures has previously backed startups that were working on application programming interfaces (APIs) and infrastructural plays. This shows that the fund’s focus is narrower within the fintech sector.
Youcef Oudjidane, a former managing partner and head of EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) at Class 5 Global, a San Francisco-based venture fund with an interest in emerging markets, co-founded the Sudanese fintech company Bloom two years ago when he couldn’t find any startups to invest in that are working on currency depreciation in Africa.
Class 5 wasn’t his first try at the stock market, though. The businessman with Algerian roots was born in the United Kingdom and worked as a senior associate at Solebury Capital, a small investment bank that PNC Financial Services bought. He was involved in several tech companies’ initial public offerings (IPOs), including Snapchat. And in 2017, he joined the Dubai Future Foundation as head of strategy and investments, leading a small group that established Dubai’s first venture capital fund.
The Venture has also partnered with many prominent footballers
Oudjidane oversaw investments in Telda, Dash, Moove, and Chari while at Class 5. The investor worked with a number of professional soccer (football) players, including Mesut Ozil, who was a partner in the business. Byld Ventures, a $15 million fund focused on early-stage startups in Africa, was launched in May and has already benefited from Oudjidane’s connections with soccer players (he played the sport in college and received scholarships). Many well-known athletes, the government of Dubai, and limited institutional partners (LPs) who don’t want to be named have all promised to help the fund.
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Over the past year, “founders in Africa were reaching out to me for advice, and I was investing personally,” the founding partner said in an interview. Therefore, I established a fund to formalise the practice.
Byld Ventures uses its previous funding for various Investments
The first close for Byld Ventures occurred in early June, and the $10 million second close occurred just last month. Oudjidane says they hope to reach their final destination by the end of the year. Four venture partners, including Oudjidane backers Ahmed Sabbah (Telda CEO), Prince Boampong (Dash CEO), Shekinah Adewumi (Apata CEO), and professional soccer player Kieran Gibbs, make up the early-stage fund, which has made four investments (Ceviant, Apata, Thepeer, and Anchor).
Based on his fund’s current portfolio of pre-seed stage startups, it’s clear that Oudjidane is interested in the financial technology sector.
According to the founding partner, “we invest early, sometimes pre-pitch deck; we joke that ideally, once you’ve handed in your resignation.” We aim to play a pivotal role in the early stages of every company we help launch. We rely heavily on fintech and consider it to be our core competency. It’s just what we know and what we love. ”
The emerging markets fund RaliCap uses the same portfolio structure. Byld Ventures focuses on three main areas when making investments: startups working to end the brain drain in Africa, startups founded by previous company leaders, and startups working to build financial infrastructure. All of Shekinah Adewumi’s Touchtech Payments, Idris Saliu’s VANSO, and Segun Adeyemi’s Amplify are all examples of successful exits from the second group. Stripe, Interswitch, and Carbon bought all three of these companies.
“I doubt many investors have our knowledge of fintech in Africa,” said the founding partner when asked why fintech startups should choose Byld Ventures over other options when seeking pre-seed funding. We can build close, trusting relationships with our founders because we are honest and open with them. For instance, when things start to hit the fan, some founders hesitate to seek advice from investors; chances are, we’ve seen worse. We believe that intellectual integrity and autonomy can get us very far in making the best choices.
According to Oudjidane, Byld is incredibly picky regarding the founders it hires because it values people who are technical, dedicated, and cost-conscious. Because “we know how difficult it is to build a business and there are a lot of second-order effects on the founder,” he continues, “I think founder-problem fit is also critical.”
Oudjidane said that the four-month-old VC firm wouldn’t invest in more than 15–20 portfolio companies from the first fund. He claims Byld isn’t a “spray and pray shop,” instead investing up to $500,000 per startup and about half the fund for follow-up investments.
Observations
Since the partners have the most experience in Egypt and Nigeria, that is where Byld Ventures will focus its attention. However, the company will also keep an eye on startups in Ethiopia and Algeria (the latter being a little biased choice due to Oudjidane’s ancestry). However, on a more personal note, Oudjidane is one of the few people on the continent to serve as both a founder and an investor—in this case, for a fintech company based in Sudan and a fund based in the United Kingdom. He claims that he can do both jobs well because of their physical complementarity. For me, Bloom and Byld are like family. Africa has so much potential, and I plan to devote my life to harnessing it. The founding partner said, “It is up to us [this generation] to be the ones to lead change.”