Participated · Equity · Nov 2023

CSquared is an Africa-focused telecommunications infrastructure provider that builds carrier-neutral, open-access metropolitan fibre-optic networks across sub-Saharan Africa. Launched as a Google project in 2011 and led by CEO Lanre Kolade, the company operates in Uganda, Ghana, Liberia, Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo. Its core product is carrier-neutral open-access fibre infrastructure aimed at increasing internet penetration and lowering access costs across the region. The company says the new capital will be used to expand its network footprint and drive digital infrastructure developments across its footprint and the broader African region. The $25M tranche is the first of a planned $65M programme to finance CSSquared's expansion and growth, and the CPDIF's purchase of Google's stake streamlines ownership. CSquared’s collaboration with Google enabled the Equiano cable landing in Togo in March 2022, which the company says significantly transformed internet affordability and availability there.

Led · Series B · Jun 2023

Yellow offers access to renewable energy products and smartphones on customer-friendly terms and is focused on scaling those businesses across Africa. The company reports it has served more than 1 million customers across seven African countries and plans additional market expansion. Its smartphone business has more than doubled year-on-year, and broader sales rates continue to grow. Yellow is investing in the infrastructure needed to serve millions more customers and accelerate commercial growth. The company frames its work as increasing impact across the continent while continuing to scale quickly.

Led · Equity · May 2023

42Markets Group incubates, invests in, and develops high‑growth specialized businesses serving financial and capital markets across Africa. The group focuses on digital transformation to lower costs and friction, increase transparency, and enable real‑time risk management across a wide range of financial products. It aims to broaden access to banking and financial services, connecting central banks and large asset generators to corporate and retail investors. 42Markets has expertise in decentralized finance (DeFi), regtech, and fintech. The company plans to expand its product offering and geographic footprint, and says the addition of Convergence Partners as an investor will accelerate that growth.

Led · Equity · Apr 2023

Mesh.trade launched in South Africa last year as part of the 42Markets Group and is designed to widen access to capital markets for ordinary investors. The platform supports issuance, tokenisation, trading, settlement and lifecycle management of multiple classes of digital securities at reduced time and cost compared with traditional market intermediaries. Mesh.trade is described as an institution-grade, decentralised, multi-sided financial markets platform intended to bridge TradFi, AltFi and DeFi. The company aims to extend market transparency, real-time risk management and efficiency across a broad range of financial products. Management plans to use the new investment to build out its product set and pursue further geographic expansion. No operating metrics (revenue/users) were disclosed in the article.

Participated · Series A · Nov 2022

Neotiv’s core product, neotivCare, is a CE class I medical device digital-health app that delivers structured memory tests aimed at people with subjective cognitive decline. The software is designed to help relatives encourage medical visits and to assist clinicians in determining whether cognitive deterioration qualifies as mild cognitive impairment. Neotiv says its tools can help pick up Alzheimer’s earlier, supporting earlier access to care and potentially better outcomes as treatments emerge. The company was founded in 2017 as a spinout from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg and maintains a scientific advisory board with experts from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, UCL and UC Berkeley. Neotiv plans to use fresh funding to grow German customer adoption, expand internationally, and deliver further software innovations. The article cites global disease estimates (about 32 million Alzheimer’s patients and a further 69 million in a prodromal phase) as the addressable need the company aims to serve. Neotiv develops mobile apps that measure the psychological effects of Alzheimer’s disease at early stages using memory tests validated in national and international scientific studies. The tests produce scores that indicate whether specific brain regions are functionally compromised, delivering a snapshot of a patient’s mental capacity and enabling long‑term, high‑frequency memory monitoring. That monitoring is intended to enable dynamic tailoring of preventative and therapeutic measures and to help health‑conscious individuals optimize lifestyle changes to reduce dementia risk. The apps are designed for private users, clinicians and drug developers, allowing doctors to detect changes and monitor treatment courses. Drug developers can use the app to improve pre‑selection of trial candidates and to obtain higher‑frequency monitoring of treatment effects. The company is led by CEO Dr. Chris Rehse and dementia researcher Prof. Emrah Düzel and recently secured seed funding from High‑Tech Gründerfonds (amount undisclosed) to support product launch and development.