WeChat Africa intends to spend $3.5 million on tech startups in Africa “to support local entrepreneurs and technology innovations”.
According to WeChat Africa Head, Brett Loubser in a statement, “Our fund aims to provide financial support to businesses so that they can effectively get on the WeChat platform.” “This will include technical integration and communications tactics across the Naspers stable and other suited channels.”
WeChat says it will identify promising tech start-ups via an application and selection process and support their entry to market using the WeChat platform.
It has appointed technology strategy practice Batstone to source and coordinate early-stage investment opportunities among tech start-ups in Africa.
Loubser continues that , WeChat’s growth strategy has increasingly focused on integrating its platform with early-stage businesses. It has also worked with start-ups such as Money4Jam, PicUp and OrderIn. The WeChat platform provides start-ups with easier access to a national audience.
This programme will focus on finding businesses that have “initial market validation” and a “viable product and could clearly benefit from WeChat’s technology platform and the accompanying access to potential consumers”.
“Our experience in the past two years has demonstrated that many companies have huge potential but are unable to communicate what they do clearly,” said Batstone Ventures Head, Alexandra Fraser.
“We don’t want to miss the chance to work with smart businesses just because they can’t succinctly tell us what they can do in an online form, so our process will include a face-to-face workshop element to mitigate this risk.”
Applications for the programme will open in mid-January. Selection will be based on a mix of online applications and the outcome of a series of workshops.
