Founders, we’re adaptable. ✊🏿

And it’s time to adapt to post-COVID-19 market conditions and trends... One of those will be that your entire fundraising journey will now happen remotely. 

This is a huge opportunity as a founder to create transparency in your fundraise. If fundraising is becoming more digital, then you have an opportunity to do things more transparently like streamline your digital diligence and give your investors access 24/7 to their investment information in an online platform.

A transparent due diligence round, is a successful and faster fundraise. And due diligence is all about clear, organized and clean data.

The nature of fundraising might have changed, and some industries happen to be heavily slowed down, while other businesses gain traction. As a startup, stay motivated in focusing on your company’s growth and continuously look for investors.

The pandemic hit various industries in different ways. At any rate, it requires behavior changes for all founders and investors.

We’re sharing a bit about how fundraising in Africa is changing, and a few success stories. This is a part of a series on how to fundraise remotely.

Fundraising Remotely 🎗️

Fundraising is hard. Fundraising remotely is even harder 😓

Venture capital activity has slowed down, at least for the meantime, in relation to the pandemic’s interruptions. There are so many factors that contribute to restrictions on movement and travel. These restrictions will last a while, they’re not going anytime soon.

So what does that mean for you? A founder raising capital in Africa?

Have you ever considered that there is no post-COVID-19 world? That this is now the new normal? If it is, that means that fundraising remotely with virtual data rooms and electronic cap tables 

To keep things moving, investing remotely is a solution, and the new norm 🤑

While it is still vital to hold in-person meetings, there will be VCs and angels that would pursue their investment activities by meeting online with the founders.

For international investors, they may rely on their network of trusted connections and have local partners to meet with founders in person on their behalf.

Luckily, some great startups on the continent are leading the way in closing their deals remotely. 

Remote fundraising: the new norm 🎉

Startups across the continent have been closing significant rounds of capital, despite the pandemic and restrictions on travel.

Chipper Cash 🎊

Chipper Cash, a fintech startup building the future of frictionless P2P payments -  just closed a $13.8 Series A funding round a few days ago. For a size that round, the Chipper Cash team must have definitely been negotiating before the pandemic began. This means they were able to close their round during a pandemic, remotely.

Okra 🎊

Okra secured a US$1m pre-seed funding from TLcom Capital.

The terms and documentation were all done remotely. The company is Africa’s first API “super-connector” which creates a secure portal and process to exchange real-time financial information between customers, applications, and banks.

Helium Health 🎊

With the coronavirus situation, the healthcare sector is highly valued in the market.

This Lagos-based e-health startup was able to raise US$10 million in Series A funding round. 

They help accelerate healthcare accessibility across Africa by digitizing the healthcare sector. To name a few, they are making it easy for brick and mortar hospitals to conduct televisits with their patients.

Their technology has offered several services such as managing billing and payments and helping healthcare facilities manage patient engagements and retention.

And from all of this, here are a few tips we’ve seen to close a round remotely:

1. Reorganize your pitch deck - clearly articulate why your startup is well positioned to grow despite a pandemic.

2. Follow and tick off a checklist of due diligence data - cleanly structure all of your due diligence in a single place, and be sure to protect that data!

3. Plan fundraising simulations - run scenario modelling to understand the impact of your round on your cap table. Then share those results with your investors, so they understand what their money will get them.
   
   

Here at Raise, we understand the unique fundraising situation of African startups at these times.

Close deals faster with Raise. Learn how to value your startup, work with a clean cap table and much more.

Join our beta program today! 🚀

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Until the next post! #keepbuilding

DISCLOSURE: This communication is on behalf of Raise Impact Technologies Inc. (“Raise”). This communication is not to be construed as legal, financial or tax advice and is for informational purposes only. This communication is not intended as a recommendation, offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any security. Raise does not assume any liability for reliance on the information provided herein.

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