EuroQuity, an online investment platform that connects startup companies with over a thousand international investors, has joined SAVCA and AVCA to partner with AfricArena to bring investment heavyweights to Cape Town, South Africa.

The AfricArena conference provides a bridge between international technology stalwarts and African technology innovators. The robust technological ecosystems of the international players and the developing infrastructure of adaptable African groundbreakers are set to connect and inspire one another.

AfricArena will take place at the Century City Conference Centre on 6 & 7 November 2017 and is the largest ever tech innovation conference for startups and investors hosted on African soil. 

The event is anchored and endorsed by sponsors such as City of Cape Town, BPI, La French Tech, Silicon Cape, RCS/BNP Paribas Personal Finance, Wesgro, Air France, Leroy Merlin, Schneider Electric and Remy Martin amongst others, as well as partners such as VC4A, Startupbootcamp, SEDA and Schoolab.

“The primary goal for the event is to facilitate deal-making between investors (angels, VCs, tech funds, corporates open to innovation) and tech entrepreneurs. We hope to create opportunities and connection leading to attracting several million dollars of seed and growth investment for African startups,” says one of the lead organizers Christophe Viarnaud, founder and CEO of the international Digital firm Methys.

Several investors will be in attendance from the South African Venture Capital Association (SAVCA) and the African Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (AVCA) amongst others.

There are already 25 confirmed speakers including John Sanei (Author of “What’s your moonshot”, Entrepreneur and Trend and Innovation Specialist), Keet Van Zyl (Partner, Knife Capital), Isabelle Bébéar (Head of International, BPI), Justin Coetzee (Founder of GoMetro), Matsi Modise (MD at SiMODiSA), Aisha R Pandor (Co-Founder and CEO of SweepSouth), and Charlie Stewart (CEO at Rogerwilco). A number of international investors are flying in from Mauritius, several African countries, and Europe.

While the conference provides an invaluable opportunity to learn and be inspired by the best, it’s the connections made between ideas-makers and financial gurus that’ll forge ongoing success throughout Africa.

Early-stage seed funding in 2016 for the whole of Africa was only 200 million dollars whilst recent exit track records, such as those of the online study platform GetSmarter, show massive return potential.

“SAVCA is pleased to support the AfricaArena conference. We believe that this event will provide an excellent platform and opportunity for entrepreneurs to showcase their tech-innovations in business, while they network with peers and potential investors to combine synergies and hopefully create more employment opportunities that will contribute to the continued growth of Africa’s dynamic economy.” states SAVCA CEO, Tanya van Lill.

In addition, AfricArena will broadcast to over a thousand international investors operating on investment platform EuroQuity. The best startups pitched will be streamed live daily all over the world with qualified investors interested in African tech attending. EuroQuity was created in 2008 by Bpifrance (the French Public Bank) and aims to be a trusted space for meetings between companies and investors. Since it was designed for companies, EuroQuity is the go-to reference service for economic development stakeholders such as investors, business consultants and support networks. It has enabled 300 million new investments generated since 2008 and is the first social network of companies and investors that has more than 6000 investors on their books.

“The Africarena label on Euroquity is a great opportunity for our European investors and companies to meet and match rising stars of African tech. Bpifrance is very happy to support AfricArena” says Isabelle Bébéar, Bpifrance International & University Director

The conference will see 500 of the smartest people in African tech, some of the best African startups and major businesses attend two conference tracks and an expo area. 

The six major focus areas of the conference are Smart City, Smart Commerce/FinTech, EdTech, AgriTech, Smart Tourism and Smart Media.

Cape Town, known as the Digital Capital of South Africa, has a population of 3.95 million with 60% of the population being under the age of 35. It is the best-run city and the fastest growing economy in Africa.

According to a survey done by Disrupt Africa in 2016, there were 125 tech startups in Africa that raised funding totaling over 185,785,000 dollars. Of these 125 tech startups, 45 were from South Africa with Cape Town tech startups being responsible for raising 75% of the total funds raised in SA. 

“Africa is home to some major disruptive technology innovations such as mobile payment, cloud technology and ed-tech, and entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk. It is also a continent of over 1 billion consumers, to reach 2 billion in the next three decades and with the youngest population and the fastest growing middle class in the world. Entrepreneurs in Africa know how to solve complex universal problems with simplicity and limited means.” says Ellen Fischat, CEO of Silicon Cape.

Viarnaud added “Through a system of open innovation challenges and partnerships with numerous African organizations and incubators we have worked hard to attract into one event the best tech entrepreneurs from the continent, the most dynamic corporates interested in innovation in Africa and a very large group of investors eager to work together to bring the best investment opportunities in africa into their deal flow. Now is the time to invest in these rising stars” concluded Viarnaud.

For tickets to this exciting first-of-its-kind event, please click here.