ExpertDojo, a Venture Catalyst based in Santa Monica, California, is preparing African startups for Series A and beyond through its growth catalyst program.
Over the last decade, the world has grown from 43 unicorns to more than 1150 by 2022. Even though that figure is slightly lower this year, it still represents a more than 2,500% increase.
Africa’s unicorn growth has risen from 1 to 7 from 2019 to 2022, which, in my opinion, is poor for a continent of over 1.2 billion people but rich in opportunity.
One of the reasons that Africa has not grown at the same rate as other regions of the world is not just because there is not the same level of venture ecosystem as in other regions (if that were the case, India would not have grown either), but because there is not enough knowledge on how to grow a venture-backed company extremely quickly.
ExpertDojo, a venture capital investment company, is looking to change that and has developed a growth program in which it not only invests in companies (up to $50k with a $1m follow on investment) but also works with them to build their growth trajectory and get them to the stage where they can execute towards scalability.
Expert Dojo’s growth strategy prioritizes not only technical support by developing a bulletproof product fit but also aggressive customer outreach and an inbound lead conversion element.
This enables better optimization of customer acquisition costs, allowing the startup to move faster to the next round. Secondly, the growth focus works backwards from Series A, quantifiably measuring the activities required today to achieve Series A on the date promised to current investors. Find out more about how our growth program works here.
The California-based Venture Catalyst has been investing in startups all over the world for the past four years, with over 250 startups in its portfolio, with Africa accounting for 14% of those. ExpertDojo invested in 26 African startups last year alone, making it one of the region’s most active investors, and we’re doubling down on our bet in Africa by enabling startups at all stages to stay on track for growth. Some of our select portfolio companies are Akiba Digital, Klasha, ThankYou Cash, Eden Life, Trueflutter, Dial Afrika, and more.
“Africa deserves better than a single-digit unicorn count,” says Brian McMahon, founder and general partner at ExpertDojo, and ExpertDojo has built the growth engine to accelerate this outcome.
Expert Dojo’s early-stage venture fund is currently open for applications here.
