New $69 Million Fund Established to Bolster DeepTech Innovation across Francophone Africa
A groundbreaking innovation fund, worth $69 million, has been unveiled to support DeepTech ventures in Francophone Africa. The fund, launched in partnership between the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI) and the African Guarantee Fund (AGF), aims to accelerate and support deep technology innovation across the region[1].
The fund is designed to address systemic challenges in technology development and commercialization by providing targeted financial resources to entrepreneurs and innovators working in advanced technology sectors. This transformative initiative is intended to catalyse economic growth and technological advancement by enabling local enterprises to scale their innovations, particularly in a region where infrastructure and access to capital remain significant barriers[1].
The focus is specifically on Francophone Africa, with the goal of turbocharging the DeepTech sector by empowering startups and businesses to overcome obstacles such as limited funding, technical capacity gaps, and underdeveloped intellectual property frameworks, while also boosting the region’s global competitiveness in emerging technologies[1].
The fund will provide mentorship and commercialization assistance for patented innovations, targeting the financing of 1,000 innovation-driven projects over the next five years. It will focus on areas including artificial intelligence, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy[1].
Experts believe the OAPI-AGF fund could play a crucial role in closing the innovation gap in Francophone Africa, reflecting increasing institutional interest in Africa's DeepTech potential[1]. However, the success of the fund will depend on efficient fund disbursement and effective public-private coordination.
It's worth noting that most of the fund's backers are non-African entities, including Denmark, France, Germany, and the U.S. OAPI will invest CFA 5 billion in AGF, becoming its second African shareholder after the African Development Bank (AfDB)[1].
The 2024 Global Innovation Index (GII) ranks Mauritius (30.5), Morocco (28.8), and South Africa (28.3) as the leading African countries in innovation output. South Africa recorded 5,221 patent filings last year, significantly more than Egypt and Nigeria, which ranked 12th in Africa and 113th globally in the 2024 GII, with a GII score of 17.1[1].
The first application call for the fund is anticipated for Q3 2025, aiming to target 200 projects in its first year. If properly executed, the fund has the potential to spark a new wave of scalable solutions, contributing significantly to the technological growth of Francophone Africa.
[1] Source: Various news outlets and official statements from OAPI and AGF.
This transformative fund, designed to support deep technology innovation, will provide financial resources to entrepreneurs and innovators working in advanced technology sectors, such as artificial intelligence, biotechnology, advanced manufacturing, and clean energy, in Francophone Africa [1]. The initiative aims to catalyze economic growth and technological advancement by enabling local enterprises to scale their innovations, while also boosting the region's global competitiveness in emerging technologies [1].
