A new venture capital fund focused on Southern Africa has launched with a £50 million mandate to invest in technology and tech-enabled businesses, marking a significant addition to the region’s growing startup funding ecosystem.
The Botswana Tech Fund (BTF), which will be based in Botswana, said it will invest across multiple stages, from pre-seed startups to Series C companies. The fund is anchored by Pula Investments, the family office of Stephen Lansdown, co-founder of UK financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown.
The fund will be managed in partnership with Launch Africa Ventures, one of the continent’s most active early-stage investors. The Managing Partner is Martin Davis, and the General Partner will be Florence Bavanandan.
The Botswana Tech Fund will deploy capital across two core strategies. Its pre-seed accelerator will invest between £25,000 and £100,000 in each cohort company, alongside structured support, market access, and hands-on operational guidance. The fund’s growth programme will provide between £500,000 and £2 million per investment for revenue-generating businesses from Seed to Series C stage, spanning both primary and secondary opportunities.
The fund said Southern Africa’s digital infrastructure has matured, but scalable application-layer solutions have yet to fully emerge, creating what it describes as a generational opportunity to back founders building the region’s future digital economy before valuations and competition rise materially.
BTF said its multi-stage strategy is designed to address one of Africa’s biggest startup ecosystem challenges: long liquidity timelines. By including a secondary investment mandate, the fund aims to create opportunities for early investors and founders to realise returns sooner, while recycling capital back into the market.
The launch also places Botswana more firmly on the map as an emerging destination for venture capital.
Fund executives cited the country’s governance credentials, relatively high internet penetration, and strategic location within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) as key advantages. Botswana is also home to the SADC Secretariat and has partnered with the Botswana Innovation Hub to support the fund’s activities on the ground.
BTF has opened applications for its first investment cohort and is inviting founders building tech and tech-enabled businesses across Southern Africa to apply. You can access it here.