DFS

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

[DFS @dfsventures]

African startups are building with AI. But no one has mapped it properly. Until now.

We're launching the Africa AI Atlas, the first large-scale study of AI adoption across African startups, with @CambridgeJBS.

Survey : https://t.co/Al9bbjiDn7

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

Congrats to @shogz_snr, Dami, and the @ShigaDigital team!

We @dfsventures were the first institutional backers of Shiga and it's been great to have @tether lean in.

Since, we've seen one leg of our thesis start to emerge: that crypto in Africa must (and will) evolve beyond wrappers and move into true financial infrastructure.

[DFS @dfsventures]

Terra Industries led a $1 million pre-seed round in Aeon, with DFS participating, and formed a commercial joint venture combining Terra’s physical security systems with Aeon’s cyber defense platform.

https://t.co/FE7OLsOV62

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

Congrats to Samuel, Ben, Alex and the @pipeopshq team!

It took us @dfsventures some time to find a cybersecurity team we felt had truly grasped the fundamental shift that has occurred in the last 18 months.

Even during our discussions with the team, we saw the OAI-HuggingFace incident rattle the industry alongside the proliferation of 0day attacks. Cyber vulnerability is at an all-time high and clients require proactive, AI-native solutions.

Like much in the Global South, this shift puts pressure on critical infra buildout. There will be no renewed industrialization without digital safety. And that digital safety simply cannot be imported.

We believe @pipeopshq is a team that's evolved into one who's commitment to protecting Africa's digital domain had pushed them to the frontier of what's needed on the continent and beyond.

We are thrilled to see our portfolio company @terraindustries leaning into the same mission alongside longtime co-investors.

We back founders chasing previously unimaginable ambition who are willing to face the hard questions head-on. Excited for this team.

https://t.co/i1DkRdu44W

[Nathan Nwachuku @_KingNath]

@terraindustries is excited to lead a $1M strategic investment in Aeon, with participation from @TechProd_Arch (Flutterwave CEO)

Aeon is a Nigerian startup building sovereign cyber defense for Africa

Cyber is a critical frontier of defense, with growing cyber attacks from..(1/2

[DFS @dfsventures]

ChipMango raised a $1.9 million seed round led by Atlantica Ventures, with DFS joining the round, to expand its engineering teams and connect African chip-design talent to global semiconductor projects.

https://t.co/a7mh6FgIQ8

[DFS @dfsventures]

RT @mrstephendeng: Congrats to the @ChipMangoHQ team!

@dfsventures has been working with this team for some time. Ola and Jovan understand…

[DFS @dfsventures]

Terra Industries has added $18 million to close a $52 million seed round, opening a London office to tap global engineering talent and capital while scaling its autonomous defense systems across Africa and other emerging markets.

https://t.co/3Yt1PYuwix

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

Congrats to @_KingNath and @Max_Sengu!

An absolute generational company for the continent and beyond. More importantly, a much needed one for this wave of industrialization.

Throwback to an article I wrote about Terra after our initial investment: https://t.co/uHq7gzxA3R

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

When we started investing in African stablecoin startups in 2023, one of our core theses was that we don't know what would happen re: regulations, but that the technology was so effusive that it would force a K-shaped result.

At that time, it was taboo to even say the word "stablecoin" in a central bank meeting. But amidst the ridicule, the crackdowns, the refusals, the userbase just kept growing.

Today, we have portfolio companies who are moving billions a year, crossing 8-figure revenues, and getting licensed. More importantly, they've unlocked productivity for an untold amount of African businesses.

Our thesis is now at a milestone. African governments have been forced to the table and are now testing how to regulate, tax, and monitor these flows. Development finance is starting to come onboard (which is the signal for consensus).

This shifts our ecosystem into a new phase of compliant institutionalization (a global trend), but also into dangerous territory where heavy-handed regulation/greed will drive volumes back into the shadows.

Crypto is allergic to control and over-aggression does not shut off the flow. It simply drives the other side of the K-shaped result.

[DFS @dfsventures]

TurnStay has crossed R1 billion in payments processed for African travel businesses, using stablecoins behind the scenes to lower costs, improve payment success rates, and speed up settlement.

https://t.co/DYlZuSKK2P

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

We @dfsventures wrote the first institutional check backing Alon and James.

Early on, the team faced questions around the size of their entry market. Since, they've been disproving all doubters with every monthly update.

Incredibly excited for what's next.

[DFS @dfsventures]

The Africa AI Atlas will be the first rigorous, independently-verified dataset on how African startups are using AI tools, infrastructure, talent, and spend.

Every startup that responds gets a private benchmarking report.

Tag a founder below who should take part! 👇

[DFS @dfsventures]

African startups are building with AI. But no one has mapped it properly. Until now.

We're launching the Africa AI Atlas, the first large-scale study of AI adoption across African startups, with @CambridgeJBS.

Survey : https://t.co/Al9bbjiDn7

[DFS @dfsventures]

RT @mrstephendeng: Here's some quick thoughts on K3 as it relates to AI builders in frontier markets like Africa.

1. First, K3 weakens the…

[Terra Industries @terraindustries]

We design for the worst possible conditions because that is where our systems will be tasked to operate.

Yesterday, we put that principle to the test. Our team ran an all-weather trial on two of our aerial systems, the Archer VTOL fixed-wing and the Kama FPV. Through steady rain and winds reaching 40 km/h, both aircraft held the sky.

The Sahel is unforgiving; so is our testing.

[DFS @dfsventures]

Dangote's proposed Kenya coast refinery could cost up to $17 billion, underscoring the scale of private industrial bets reshaping African fuel supply and trade flows.

https://t.co/BeSuoBIWPy

[DFS @dfsventures]

Nigeria's local data mandate pushes financial firms to host transaction data at home by January 2027, testing data centre capacity and resilience.

https://t.co/WDJiSelwnO

[Stephen Deng @mrstephendeng]

"African startups can't build infrastructure."

Terra: We're standing up the largest dedicated drone production facility in Africa. We're doing it now.

This is a seed stage startup. The edge of what's possible is changing.

[@dfsventures is an investor in Terra]

[DFS @dfsventures]

Nigeria's central bank is moving stablecoins from crypto risk to regulated payments infrastructure, eyeing cheaper remittances, FX liquidity, bank custody, and real-time reserve oversight.

https://t.co/la0huj6iPm

[DFS @dfsventures]

Africa may not win at foundation models, but that’s not the only game. The bigger question is who owns the compute, data, energy, and deployment infrastructure that local AI systems will depend on.

https://t.co/2ccMPdZzyA