‘One size fits all’ investing is limiting innovations in East Africa and India
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
If you’ve been reading startup tech blogs and news outlets, you might think it’s an exciting time to be a fintech startup in East Africa and India. There are some notable exits coming out of India, like the 2016 acquisition of Citrus Pay by Naspers’ PayU for $130 million, one of the largest-ever acquisitions for the country’s fintech industry. There is also a narrative, eagerly picked up by tech optimists, about the innovative technologies spreading across Kenya and other East African countries, like Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile payments platform .
The reality is different. Despite all of the hype, most startups in India and East Africa are failing to attract the investment capital they need to grow and scale. For example, although startup investment in East Africa is at an all-time high, in the past two years 72 percent of venture capital went to only three startups. The vast majority of startups in these regions are not being given a fair shot.
Source: VentureBeat (link opens in a new window)
- Categories
- Investing
