Founders Factory Africa rebrands as 54 Collective to reflect its pan-African aspiration
The name 54 Collective is a nod to the 54 countries that make up Africa, reflecting the pan-African aspiration of the firm
Last month, South Africa-based startup accelerator, Founders Factory Africa, announced it is rebranding as 54 Collective, a venture capital (VC) firm, in a move that signifies a strategic evolution aimed at amplifying support for African entrepreneurs and fostering a continent-wide impact.
Founded in 2018, Founders Factory Africa, now 54 Collective, began as a corporate-backed model and has invested in over 70 start-ups across the continent, with more than one-third of its investments in Kenya, according to Bongani Sithole, CEO of 54 Collective. “Today we have taken the next step in our journey. We have rebranded to 54 Collective. This transformation signifies a strategic evolution aimed at amplifying support for African entrepreneurs and fostering a continent-wide impact,” Sithole wrote.
The rebrand from Founder Factory Africa to 54 Collective comes a year after it raised $114 million to provide operational support for its investments across the continent and address gender imbalance in the VC ecosystem.
The name 54 Collective is a nod to the 54 countries that make up Africa, reflecting the pan-African aspiration of the firm, Sithole noted. “Collective signifies the collaborative way that our experienced local teams of venture specialists and experts work with founders,” he explained.
“This evolution embodies growth with purpose, emphasising a commitment to supporting entrepreneurs across the continent and enabling them to build without boundaries,” he added.
Speaking to The Kenyan Wall Street on the underlying ethos behind the rebranding, Sithole said “There were four things important for us. One was we wanted to move away from an accelerator, which had two offerings in it, build and venture scale programs. We have now moved from that into becoming a venture capital firm that funds ventures right from concept to pre-series A.”
He continued, “The second thing that we have learned is really just around the technical expertise that I spoke about in our first venture, we were charging for services through equity. So which means that if you came into Founders Factory Africa into one of our accelerator programs, you would typically be paying for those services. And we have now evolved that into a value-added support structure through which our venture success platform.
“The third thing that we have learned is that being a corporate-backed model needed a wider pool of investors. So just being a corporate-backed venture was not enough. So in this evolution, we started thinking about the type of investors that we can bring in and that has led us to then start to bring in family offices, foundations, thinking about DFIs and global corporates.
“The fourth thing we learned was that the three sectors we operated in were not enough. If we wanted to capture the entire market, so we needed to be agnostic. So in this evolution, we have moved into a sector-agnostic company. And lastly, we have become a pan-African company.”
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With a physical presence in Kenya, South Africa and Nigeria, 54 Collective, which is a part of UTOPIA platform, a collection of funds across high-growth emerging and frontier markets, says it is uniquely positioned to leverage local expertise and networks to scale ventures. “This geographical footprint across Africa underscores the firm's dedication to fostering entrepreneurial success in the continent, embedding impact in everything we do,” Sithole shared.
