Transsion, the parent company of Tecno, Infinix and itel smartphones is now gearing up to build its won startup empire across Africa.
Transsion is Africa’s largest maker of smartphones. Last week, we reported that the group filed its disclosure for an initial public offering (IPO) on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market, a new listing segment targeted at Chinese tech companies to easily list and raise capital.
In the latest move, Transsion is partnering with Kenya’s Wapi Capital to invest in viable early-stage startups across Africa.
According to a report by TechCrunch, the investment in African startups will be housed and executed under the Transsion Future Hub division, the group’s startup fund.
Transsion Future Hub Senior Investor Laura Li told TechCrunch that the fund will invest a minimum of $100,000 in African tech startups to be selected by Kenya’s Wapi Capital.
TechCrunch said in the reported that Wapi Capital won’t contribute funds to Transsion’s Africa investments, but will help determine the viability and scale of the startups, including due diligence and deal flow, according to Wapi Pay co-founder Eddie Ndichu.
Also, the platform reported that Wapi Pay and Transsion Future Hub will consider ventures from all 54 African countries and interested startups can reach out directly to either organization, Ndichu and Li confirmed.
Some of the major startups already in the Transsion Future Hub are Scooper, Boomplay and Phoenix. All these startups are majorly targeted at the African markets focusing on entertainment, news and information.
In its IPO, Transsion said it seeks to raise about N154 billion to fund its research and development across its smartphone and other ventures within the group. According to its disclosure, Transsion said it has about 1,500 R&D staff across Shanghai and Shenzhen in China as well as local teams in Nigeria and Kenya.
