22 April 2026
The Botswana Tech Fund (BTF) has launched a multi-stage venture capital initiative targeting approximately $64 million in total commitments, aiming to accelerate digital transformation and support technology entrepreneurs across Southern Africa.
- The Botswana Tech Fund has launched a $64 million venture capital initiative to support tech startups across Southern Africa.
- The fund is structured to back founders from pre-seed through to growth stage, with an initial $6.4 million deployment phase.
- It brings together Launch Africa Ventures, Pula Investments, and experienced venture leaders to drive its investment strategy.
- The initiative targets the region’s digital infrastructure gap while leveraging Botswana’s position within the SADC market.
The fund is structured to leverage Botswana’s relatively stable macroeconomic environment, strong governance framework, and high internet penetration, estimated at around 80%, to back scalable technology-enabled businesses. It also positions itself within the wider Southern African Development Community (SADC), a 16-nation bloc with a combined population of more than 370 million people, which fund managers describe as a key opportunity for regional scale.
BTF is being established as a strategic partnership between venture capital operators and family office investors. Launch Africa Ventures will act as investment adviser for Phase One under its managed accounts strategy, while Pula Investments serves as anchor investor. Leadership includes Martin Davis, Managing Partner and former chief executive of FTSE 250-listed Molten Ventures, alongside Florence Bavanandan, General Partner and Head of Platform and Operations at Launch Africa Ventures.
The fund follows a dual-phase deployment strategy designed to support startups from pre-seed through growth. Phase One will deploy about $6.4 million, including roughly $1.3 million dedicated to pre-seed founders, alongside two to four growth-stage investments spanning primary and secondary transactions.
The long-term objective remains the full $64 million commitment target, positioning BTF as a significant source of early- and growth-stage capital for the region.
According to the fund’s investment approach, Southern Africa is at an inflexion point in its digital transition, but continues to face a structural financing gap, particularly in application-layer technologies and digital infrastructure.
Botswana’s positioning as a relatively well-governed market is seen as an advantage for structured venture investment, with expectations that capital deployment can be scaled across the broader SADC region.
To strengthen deal flow and ecosystem integration, BTF has partnered with the Botswana Innovation Hub, which will provide portfolio companies with physical infrastructure, access to local deal pipelines, and integration into the national innovation ecosystem.
The fund also draws operational support from Launch Africa Ventures, which has previously contributed to startups that collectively reached more than $3 billion in market capitalisation through its portfolio activity.
BTF’s backers say the model is designed to combine local ecosystem access with institutional-grade venture execution, as competition for early-stage African tech deals intensifies among global and regional investors.
Source: https://shorturl.at/2QJVz
