DFS

Partnering with founders building Africa's intelligent infrastructure. Research-led, early-stage, long-term.

[DFS @dfsventures]

China's dependence on African critical minerals is raising African governments' leverage, even as debt service and shrinking Chinese lending limit fiscal room for industrial policy.

https://t.co/7XtP97mUPH

[DFS @dfsventures]

MoneyGram launched MGUSD on Stellar, making a Stripe Bridge-issued stablecoin core payments infrastructure across its global remittance and retail network.

https://t.co/MD7RRf8Nr4

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

Spiro raised another $215m in equity. They've now raised over $500m in disclosed capital across equity & debt; $350m of that since my last post.

Compared to other 2-wheeler EV competitors, they have raised from 10x to 90x more.

They have raised a multiple of their peer group combined and now represent ~80% of the core disclosed capital.

When I say we believe African venture is trending towards neo-infrastructure, this is what that might look like. Fundamental solutions, concentrated & blended capital, underwriting enormous platforms.

Forget unicorn valuations, we're talking billion+ in funding.

[DFS @dfsventures]

Spiro raised $215 million at a near-unicorn valuation to expand electric motorcycles, battery swapping, local assembly, and clean energy infrastructure across Africa.

https://t.co/hQKl0i1o5W

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

It seems to me that we're seeing a new generation of African startup that can only be described as 'neo-infrastructure."

They aren't laying roads or powerlines, but alongside a renewed shift towards sovereignty by governments and industrialization-as-impact by the global development regime, there's a set of AI-native teams out there building the intelligence on top of this next gen of infra.

We've seen several real signals towards this trend. Neo-remittance startups like @NALAmoney growing into full-stack payments with an intelligent treasury layer.

Neo-prime startups like @terraindustries hardening critical infra security across the continent with AI-first hardware during a time of unstable geopolitics.

Neo-procurement startups like @matta_trade stabilizing critical material supply chains with systems-level coordination driven by data discipline.

Like we saw with real-world stablecoin usage, it's very likely that African markets offer some of the most significant wedge opportunities for these kinds of solutions given how existential and unsolved the problems are.

In a world where global trade is increasingly fragile, I am increasingly bullish on teams that bring stability to Africa's industrialization efforts; those who buffer productivity against volatility.

More on this soon.

[DFS @dfsventures]

DFS portco NALA secures up to $50 million in credit financing from Liquidity to pre-fund stablecoin payment corridors and scale Rafiki across emerging markets.

https://t.co/UsxWvfMXm7

[DFS @dfsventures]

Zipline plans 12 more Nigerian distribution hubs by 2028, aiming to serve 20,000 health facilities and make autonomous medical logistics national infrastructure.

https://t.co/FL0FyMKqxc

[Terra Industries @terraindustries]

We welcomed H.E. José Bamóquina Zau, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Angola to the Federal Republic of Nigeria, alongside Defence Attaché Colonel Venutura Miguel and senior Embassy officials, to Terra Industries' Pax-1 facility in Abuja to examine how indigenous defense technology can anchor Angola's long-term security sovereignty.

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

.@terraindustries's seed marks the beginning of a new narrative for African tech.

We're exiting an ecosystem driven solely by the promise of population growth and externally-defined social impact into one where the continent must justify its competitiveness in the AI era.

We believe that @_KingNath @Max_Sengu and team have operationalized a compelling vision to harden Africa's most important infrastructure around energy, critical minerals, and food production.

Excited to have supported this team as one of its earliest investors and to have doubled down this round.

Welcome @8vc @Lux_Capital @novaholdings Valor Equity Partners and others plus a special shoutout to @ulonnaya who's joining the team.

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

.@PartechPartners Africa's 2025 report is also out - one of the best!

Equity: $2.4b (+8%)
Debt: $1.6b (+63%)
Total: $4.1b (+25%)

> 39% of overall funding is debt; growing at almost 8x the rate of equity.
> Fintech down 12%, Cleantech up 99%
> Renewed concentration into Top4 (+14% of all funding)
> Seed most constrained (-4%), Series A (+21%) & Growth (+29%) are recovering.
> Conversion from early to A has fallen: 2019 vintage (24%; ZIRP), 2020 onward (6.5%), a 73% decline.

My extrapolation is a hollowing out of the early-stage equity pipeline as funds move to bigger fund sizes and tickets. Lower conversion from that pipeline to Series A+ means we will run into more of a bottleneck this year where it'll be the pressure for funds to deploy vs. the level of de-risking they expect.

The dominance of debt places further signal to de-risk, as our startups will mold their businesses to the shape of available capital.

What I see is an ecosystem that's systematically cutting risk out of its identity. This is a bet against power law distribution and must be discussed hand-in-hand with the exits question.

[DFS @dfsventures]

See @JakeKendall5 talk about digital trends, cybernetic commerce, and AI in Africa with @julienfanciulli on @France24_fr! Test your french... or read a summary in english of some of his ideas on the Linkedin post.

[Jake Kendall @JakeKendall5]

Yesterday, I joined @julienfanciulli on @France24_fr for #RendezVousAfrique d'#AutourDuMondeF24 to talk #Africantech and AI! See a short summary of my thinking on AI and Cybernetic Commerce in Africa:
https://t.co/EoAycQqSYs via @LinkedIn

[DFS @dfsventures]

The team will be in Nairobi in the coming days leading up to #ATS!

Join us on Tuesday, Feb. 11th by 5pm for a night of networking with founders, investors and ecosystem players!

RSVP here: https://t.co/3RoPi3NPC0

[DFS @dfsventures]

... particularly those targeting underserved micro and small enterprises (MSEs).

Curious about what we uncovered? Access the publication below ⬇️

https://t.co/q6YnNOIJ3H

[DFS @dfsventures]

We’re pleased to have contributed to the CGAP, "Innovative Financing for Inclusive Credit Fintechs in Africa" publication. By interviewing debt investors and fintech stakeholders, we helped uncover valuable insights to provide strategies for reaching inclusive credit in Africa..

[DFS @dfsventures]

A huge thanks to the entire team DFS Lab, our clients, collaborators, investors and partners for an incredible year!

Catch a glimpse of what we were up to in 2024 ⬇️

https://t.co/C6Z2WBdWak

[Gift Agboro.💫💫 @Gift_Agboro]

@koxy_Dev @fastbuka @StellarOrg @NJinCalifornia @DenelleDixon @kalepail @gwd2000 @anke_g_liu @anuxhya @ElCanale @jricetweets Amazing!! Kudus to @fastbuka on of the teams from #StellarSurgeinLagos by @TheDFSLab! #proudmoment and love to see the integration with @Link_IO

[DFS @dfsventures]

It was such a great time last week at the @StellarOrg #Meridian2024 speaking about #StellarSurge

[Lumen Loop @lumenloop]

.@TheDFSLab talks "Stellar Surge" - How they building an African dev community
#Stellar #Meridian2024

[DFS @dfsventures]

These meetups are a part of our wider #StellarSurge program aimed at building an engaged community of African builders.

@lumenloop

[DFS @dfsventures]

#Thursdaythrowback to #StellarSurge Blockchain Builders Meetup in Nairobi powered by @StellarOrg
It was so much fun meeting builders, founders and blockchain enthusiasts in real time while exploring ways of solving some of the problems faced on the continent through blockchain.

[DFS @dfsventures]

With over 15 projects pitching for grants and support we had top 5 teams pitching ideas to @BuildOnStellar across Insurance, Finance, E-Commerce, Agriculture etc. These teams will go ahead to exploring further support programs and getting their ideas to user-validated products.