Safaricom starts shortlisting young firms for Sh99 million venture fund

Safaricom has started shortlisting entrepreneurs who applied for funding from the company’s $1 million (Sh99 million) Spark Venture Fund.

The firm said 200 start-ups had applied for funding from the kitty targeting companies with products that need financing to scale up their businesses.

“We are on course to fulfil the promise that we made more than three years ago when we committed to nurture the growing mobile development space in Kenya. We believe that the sector is ripe for the development of innovative, local-based solutions that have viable commercial application,” said Safaricom director for innovation and strategy Joe Ogutu.

Safaricom will make minority equity investments of between Sh7 million and Sh22 million in the successful start-ups.

TBL Mirror Fund, which is managing the $1 million fund, said that it had so far identified companies that are ripe for scaling up and were well managed.

“We have seen promising and good quality start-ups that are starting to build up experienced teams alongside their technical and sales workforce. This illustrates the high level of interest in the market for scalable, locally developed and innovative solutions,” said TBL manager Eline Blaauboer.

The companies will also benefit from strategic relationships with Safaricom.