Côte d’Ivoire 🇨🇮 Africa's Sweetest Startup Hub

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Morning from London!

I spent last week over in Côte d'Ivoire (The Ivory Coast) and damn - it’s good to be back in Africa. I’ve loved the chaos and the calm.

My email got suspended part way into the trip. It should have been stressful, but it was oddly relaxing. Probably means I need a holiday 😅

And it was classic Africa: when things can go wrong, they do. And when they shouldn’t go wrong they will.

Things move slower. It’s a place where you need to be patient. It’s hard to optimise every minute here.

It’s a lot easier to be in the present and appreciate what's around you.

Sometimes that presence (and email dilemmas) spill into other things - like sending this newsletter out on time. So, thanks for the patience.

Before we get into what I’ve been up to this last week, here is the Tech Safari Noticeboard:

• I’m in London for the next weeks. Tonight I’ll be at London Africa Network’s Gathering at the Africa Centre. It’s sold out, but I have a few tickets and they’re half price. Shoot me an email if you want one 💌💨.

• The Tech Safari Syndicate is now open! Our first deal (Hulugram) is almost fully subscribed in just one week. To invest in African startups with us, sign up here. We are launching another deal soon 🇨🇮 👀

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Into the edition.

This week I went deep into Côte d'Ivoire’s startup ecosystem. Today I’m sharing some of the learnings and why I’m excited about the country.

But first - what even is Côte d'Ivoire?

It’s a fair question. If you’re not from the continent, the country can fly under the radar.

Côte d'Ivoire is on the Western coast of Africa.

It’s in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (also known as WAEMU Region) where its currency is the West African Franc, pegged to the Euro.

Côte d'Ivoire is in what we call ‘Francophone Africa’ - like over 20 African countries across the continent.

France’s influence in Africa started with colonization but is now embedded into African culture in these countries.

In these countries, French is the official language (or widely spoken as a second language).

It's hard to get by unless you can speak French (which I can’t) or have French speakers around (which I fortunately did).

I tried to level up my non-existent French quickly but the closest I got was Santé🥂

Ivorians refer to the country as C'est le plus doux au monde - or, the sweetest in the world. I would agree.

Abidjan is the economic capital of the country, and it’s where you will find all the action. Things are moving, it’s safe and the people are lovely.

After Côte d'Ivoire gained independence from France in 1960, it turned into one of the most prosperous countries in Africa.

With the third largest economy in West Africa (behind Ghana and Nigeria), it’s one of the fastest-growing economies on the continent, averaging around 7% per year of GDP growth since 2012.

But when it comes to startups and funding, the country is still in its infancy.

Nigerian startups raised $1.2 billion. Ghanaian startups raised $400 million.

Ivorian startups?

$34 million.

As Damilare reflected from his trip to the country last year: English is the language of tech. And it seems like the country has flown under the radar.

But that’s a missed opportunity.

Francophone Africa is made up of over 300 million people - with their own cultures and different market dynamics.

And Côte d'Ivoire has the right demographics to start and scale in Francophone Africa

With a young and dynamic population (median age of 19 years) and deep mobile penetration.

There are more mobile connections than people in Côte d’Ivoire - with a population of 27 million and 37 million cellular connections.

Mobile money penetration is said to be at 73%.

Saviu Ventures - one of the region’s most active investors has a funny tagline: Venture Capital - but not just in Kenya and Nigeria. They get it.

And it’s not just them.

The country’s deep internet penetration and smartphone adoption makes it a natural gateway or a perfect launch pad for startups in the region. And players are taking notice.

Let's dive into how startups are expanding into or launching into the region.

The Gateway to Francophone Africa

Anglophone startups (companies from English-speaking Africa) are making their moves into the country - whether by acquisition, investment, or expansion.

Of those three moves, expansion seems to be the most difficult.

Earlier this year, logistics startup Sendy, had its Ivorian arm placed into compulsory liquidation.

Wasoko in Côte d'Ivoire is also in the process of winding down activities in the country.

Mathias Léopoldie, (CEO and Co-Founder of Julaya) gave me some insight into why expansion is difficult for anglophone African companies.

Côte d'Ivoire might be the gateway to Francophone Africa, but it's a market of 27 million people - too small to launch into without intentionality.

The common approach of throwing money into a market to launch often fails without having a considered plan.

It’s cultural, too. While there is a language hurdle (from English to French), there's also a legal hurdle.

While the US, UK, and Anglophone Africa use a common law system, France (and Francophone Africa) use a civil law system.

When legal and tax structures are different, it’s easier to make more mistakes. And some founders will tell you that the civil law system is more skewed towards bureaucracy, and takes patience (the key word today) to get things done.

So, it can be hard to expand into the country. But a few companies have nailed it.

African unicorn, Wave, has managed to stick the landing - successfully expanding into the country in 2021. Now you can see them everywhere.

Wave had the benefit of starting in Senegal (also Francophone Africa) and learning deeply about the market.

And instead of just launching, we’re seeing anglophone companies investing in or acquiring startups in Côte d'Ivoire to make their entry.

Par example:

• Nigerian unicorn Flutterwave invested in Ivorian payment company Cinetpay back in 2021

• Kenya’s Sendy invested in Ivorian logistics startup Kamtar to expand into the region.

• Moroccan startup Chari acquired Diago (an Ivorian app that connects local shops to FMCG producers and importers) to expand into the country.

• Nigeria-based E-settlement acquired Ivorian QuickCash in 2021

So the region is red hot - and global startups want to launch into Francophone Africa through Côte d'Ivoire.

But what about the homegrown heroes?

Côte d'Ivoire’s startups to watch

I got to meet a few brilliant founders and venture builders.

One of the new kids on the block is MStudio - a venture studio that helps founders find models that work in Africa, then test and tailor them to Francophone.

Unlike Rocket Internet (copying models from Western markets and hoping it works in Africa), they have a team of researchers who are on the ground and testing in the market.

They also have an A-Team onboard to help those startups succeed and scale. For example -

Leslie Ossete, Co-Founder and COO of MStudio led expansion and operations at companies like Wave Mobile Money, Wasoko, and Bolt.

Aude Juglard was CFO of CinetPay (the country’s largest payment fintech) before she came on to be Head of Finance and might be one of the most knowledgeable people in African Fintech I’ve met.

If anyone is making the most of Francophone Africa’s venture opportunity, it’s MStudio - digging deep into opportunities on the continent and helping new founders scale.

We hosted an event together after the Africa CEO Forum.

MC’ed by Axel Peyriere (African Tech OG), with a bit of rambling from me and MStudio’s presentation and their portfolio company Tajiri’s presentation.

Don’t let the angles deceive you either - we had at least 70 people come through on Monday.

I got to meet a few other trailblazing startups while I was in town, too. Like:

Djamo

Djamo, headed by Hassan Bourgi and Regis Bamba is a fintech looking to beat high transaction fees and interest rates by building a digital bank (think Revolut) for French-speaking Africa.

Djamo has made history in the country twice. First, by becoming the first startup in the country to join YCombinator.

Then, by raising the largest round seen to date - a huge $14 million round in November 2022 from Enza Capital, Oikocredit, and Partech Africa

Julien Gafarou who was behind the deal at Enza Capital points out that Francophone Africa’s 300 million people are underserved when it comes to accessible, cheap financial products - the gap Djamo is filling.

Julaya

Julaya is facilitating B2B payments for businesses in Francophone Africa through mobile money.

Côte d'Ivoire has only 20% bank account penetration - compared to 75% mobile money penetration. And banks don’t integrate with mobile money - which is where Julaya comes in.

Businesses can use the Julaya platform to make bulk payments to other businesses, pay their unbanked employees and make payments for immediate expenses like delivery or repairs.

They also let these businesses manage online and travel expenses with banking cards through Mansa Bank, and let companies digitize their cash collections.

Auto24

Axel is an old friend and a central ecosystem figure, investing in over 40 startups in the region. He actually helped me do my first investment in Africa last year.

On top of all that, he is the CEO of Auto24 - which refurbishes and sells second-hand cars in Côte d'Ivoire.

Fun fact - Côte d'Ivoire is the number one country when it comes to new car sales in Sub-Saharan Africa. (17,000 new cars are sold yearly, compared to 5,000 in Nigeria).

Over 400,000 second-hand cars are sold each year in Côte d'Ivoire, and no one player has more than 1% share of the market.

Demand is high, but dealerships are fragmented and buyers experience a lack of transparency and pricing instability.

Auto24 lets customers buy cars transparently online and with a better customer experience.

WiAssur

Insurance has only 1% penetration in Africa, and WiAssur is out to solve that by scaling insurance coverage with tech across the country.

They have cracked how to distribute insurance with their platform, have 100% of Côte d'Ivoire’s insurance providers on their platform, and are scaling quickly with 1000% year on year growth.

CEO Teva Fontaine is the founder. Disclosure (and humble brag 🤷🏾‍♂️) I’m an investor in WiAssur.

Côte d'Ivoire is buzzing.

It’s fun, dynamic, up and coming.

And it’s the gateway to one of Africa’s most untapped markets: Francophone Africa.

What do you think of the country’s ecosystem and startup potential? And were there startups I missed? Let me know here.

Would you invest in a startup in Francophone Africa? We might be soon via the Tech Safari Syndicate 👀 You can apply to join here.

And thank you to the Africa CEO Forum for bringing me over and for Jeremy Goillot’s great guide to the country.

And that's a wrap for this week! We will be back soon with a feature story.

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Catch you soon!

👋🏾 Caleb