A new venture capital fund focused on Southern Africa has launched with a target of £50 million to invest in technology and tech-enabled businesses across the region, marking one of the largest dedicated capital pools built specifically for an area that has historically struggled to attract venture funding.
A fund built around an underserved region
The Botswana Tech Fund, known as BTF, will be based in Botswana and will invest across multiple stages of company growth, from pre-seed startups through to Series C companies. The fund is anchored by Pula Investments, the family office of Stephen Lansdown, co-founder of UK financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown, and will be managed in partnership with Launch Africa Ventures, one of the continent’s most active early-stage investors.
Southern Africa has historically attracted far less venture capital than Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, and South Africa, the continent’s largest startup hubs. Fund leadership frames that gap as the opportunity rather than a warning sign. Florence Bavanandan, general partner at BTF and also head of platform and operations at Launch Africa, has described the strategy as a contrarian thesis focused on backing startups in Botswana and neighbouring countries such as Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, arguing that overlooked markets are exactly where the opportunity lies.
Sector focus and rationale
The fund plans to back tech-first, business-to-business startups solving infrastructure challenges around payments, e-commerce, logistics, and digitisation, rather than chasing consumer-facing plays in already-crowded markets. Fund executives have pointed to Botswana’s governance credentials, comparatively high internet penetration, and position within the Southern African Development Community as advantages for the initiative. Botswana also hosts the SADC Secretariat, and BTF has partnered with the Botswana Innovation Hub to support the fund’s on-the-ground activities.
Diversifying across multiple countries rather than concentrating solely in Botswana is also framed as a currency risk hedge. Spreading the portfolio across several Southern African economies is intended to protect returns from being overly exposed to any single country’s currency movements, a consideration fund leaders have said factored directly into the strategy.
What it means for founders in the region
BTF has opened applications for its first investment cohort on a rolling basis, with no fixed deadline announced, and is inviting founders building tech and tech-enabled businesses across Southern Africa to apply. For entrepreneurs in Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and neighbouring markets that have long sat outside the spotlight of major African venture activity, the fund represents a rare dedicated source of both early-stage and growth-stage capital, along with structured support and access to Launch Africa’s wider continental network.
