• Founders Factory Africa has announced a rebrand and name change.
• 54 Collective continues Founders Factory’s vision of supporting the growth of African entrepreneurs.
• 54 Collective, offers equity and non-dilutive capital up to a total of $500 000, with an additional $150 000 for women, enabling founders to scale their ventures across the continent

African Venture Capital (VC) firm, Founders Factory Africa has announced a rebrand and name change to 54 Collective.

The renaming reflects the VC’s ambitious pan-African vision where it aspires to support the growth of entrepreneurs across all 54 nations on the African continent.

“Our catalytic capital and value-add support to founders, through our Venture Success Platform, signifies our evolution and ongoing mission to support entrepreneurs across Africa and enable them to build without boundaries to drive commercial and impact returns. Our name change to 54 Collective communicates our continued commitment to African founders. We are more supportive than ever of unlocking opportunities for entrepreneurs and ensuring a level playing field for youth and women founders,” commented 54 Collective’ CEO’s chief executive officer, Bongani Sithole.

Through the Venture Success Platform, 54 Collective invests in all manner of ventures from idea to Pre-Series A. It does this through catalytic capital and value-added support.

54 Collective, offers equity and non-dilutive capital up to a total of $500 000, enabling founders to scale their ventures across the continent. To break barriers of access, female founders receive an additional $150 000 in the form of non-dilutive capital.

The company employs a team of highly experienced venture specialist who provide support in the form of guidance regarding product, growth, commercial relationships, business strategy, talent, technology, and data. Importantly, this team is sector agnostic and that means there is a wider scope for investment.

To date, 54 Collective has supported over 70 ventures and helped portfolio startups raise $140 million in follow-on capital.

“We are pursuing opportunistic investments in different sectors across the continent where there are uniquely large opportunities for startups to scale and create sustainable impact in these sectors. Our goal is to invest in 105 startups across Africa in the next five years, enabling entrepreneurs to provide solutions to the continent’s biggest challenges and transforming lives and industries,” added Sithole.

54 Collective is targeting a portfolio where 50 percent or more of its startups are founded by women. Currently, from the 17 investments made between January 2023 and July 2024 in its portfolio, 45 percent are founded by women. The firm’s investments are also creating social economic impact in the wider economy. For example, Asaak, a vehicle asset financing company has improved financial inclusion for over 11,000 boda boda drivers. An impact study uncovered that 79 percent of these drivers improved their quality of life significantly and 80 percent increased their income after receiving credit from Asaak.

With a fresh brand and the same vision now with an added dash of vigour, lets hope 54 Collective grows as fast as it aims to.