This episode of My Climate Journey features two guests: Tobias Ruckstuhl, Managing Partner at Persistent, and Bim Adisa, CEO at Beacon Power Services, which is a climate tech company providing data and software solutions for Africa's power sector.
Bim joined the MCJ pod previously for an in-depth episode on Beacon in February 2021. If you're interested in a deeper dive on his business in particular, check out that episode from the archives.
In today's conversation, we talk about the evolution of the startup funding landscape in Africa and the sources of capital that are available, the geographic startup hubs that are growing across the continent, the role model companies that are emerging, and the advice that Bim and Tobias have for founders looking to build in Africa.
Africa is huge, and the diversity of business needs, policy environments, economic mobility, capital availability and opportunity varies greatly from country to country. But in general, there's a sense of rising tides floating all boats in Africa at present, and the numbers seem to back this up. While global venture capital funding has seen significant year-over-year declines of 50% or more according to Crunchbase, VC funding in Africa is up slightly according to recent reports, accounting for $6.5 billion in financings in 2022. The capital stack also looks quite different than in the US and Europe.
In this episode, we cover:
- [03:38]: Overview and mission of Beacon Power Services
- [07:49]: Tobias's background and his work with Persistent
- [11:21]: Persistent's investments, exits, and locations
- [13:04]: How Bim and Tobias connected
- [15:50]: Bim's experience with the fundraising process and growth after Persistent's investment
- [18:17]: Overview of venture funding and climate tech startups in Africa
- [23:42]: Breakdown of the capital stack available to African startups
- [30:41]: Evolution of the venture market and examples of active venture funds investing in African climate tech
- [33:53]: Geographic hubs of entrepreneurship across Africa
- [39:14]: Challenges specific to the Francophone Africa market
- [41:12]: Bim's advice for foreign and local founders building in Africa
- [43:54]: What sectors are currently booming and Persistent's criteria for evaluating new climate tech sectors
- [48:52]: Leading climate tech companies in Africa that can inspire founders
- [51:25]: Balancing urgency and realism in deploying climate solutions at scale
- [53:31]: Persistent's LP fundraising process and investor priorities
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Episode recorded on Sep 14, 2023 (Published on Oct 16, 2023)
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant
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