Village Capital

Only together can we create a better world for every living person. Every small action you take can have a profound ripple effect on vulnerable communities that experience the world with a level of hardship that Europeans are lucky enough never to have to go through. In Africa, entrepreneurs face tremendous challenges. Aside from meeting basic needs like food, water, and education, entrepreneurs face an uphill battle to build a tech startup. This is where we can help. Counder has feet on the ground since 2018, arriving with just hand luggage and an idea for a pioneering ecosystem that will propel African entrepreneurs to achieve the level of success that European business leaders have enjoyed. SEON, the startup revolutionising security in Africa, is proof that the bridge between German engineering and local talent, including sales experts that understand the fine details of doing business in Africa is a winning combination. Ubuntu Another key element of that winning combination is the African mindset. Ubuntu is a great expression that explains this mindset. It means I am because we are. In Africa, passion, hope, and togetherness are the traits that will foster the next wave of innovation. We can’t do great things alone. And at the heart of the digital revolution is the mobile-first generation. This tech-savvy, ambitious, youthful workforce is ready to build and they are hungry to solve some of the nation’s biggest problems. There are countless problems that technology can overcome that will improve the quality of life for Africans. African e-entrepreneurs are already transforming the agricultural sector through digitalisation. And mobile and digital technologies have helped boost financial inclusion in Africa significantly in recent years. However, more than half a billion people still live without access to electricity. New power system innovation (technology, policy, business models, etc.) can shape a socially inclusive energy transition for the continent. These are just some of the areas where tech entrepreneurs can have a real impact. Diversity At Counder we are multidisciplinarians focused on where we can have the biggest impact. We are architects, mathematicians, engineers, artisans, line workers and much more. A shared purpose brings us together. Our lofty goal is to build a knowledge bridge that will connect proven entrepreneurs and international investors in Europe with ambitious local talent in Africa. This connection between the raw high potential of Africa and the established know-how of European business leaders will unlock tremendous opportunities of which the continent has never seen before. To solve real problems and sustain life on our planet it is urgent and imperative that we tackle existential threats like climate change, hunger and pandemics as a diverse team. This won’t work if we continue to work in isolation. Now is our chance to generate a momentous impact that will reshape life in Africa as we know it.

We invest as an early-stage investor in (Pre-) Seed & Series A rounds with a focus on Real Estate Tech, Mobility, Energy and Impact. We summarize these sectors under the heading "Urban Tech". Real estate is at the core of ever-growing urbanity and our infrastructure determines how modern and competitive a location will be tomorrow - always keeping the future of the environment and the entire ecosystem in mind In our focus areas, we see sustainable and disruptive developments where we see particular potential to build new and disruptive businesses: Sustainability is not a slogan for us, but a duty, and we therefore see it as our responsibility to invest in a sustainable, better future.

As capital becomes a commodity with more early-stage investors flocking to Africa, what will make us stand out will be our networks, relationships, and reputations. What we look forLarge Markets: A clear market opportunity that is massive and growing, captured through a scalable business model. We aim at reaching sustainable impact across a large audience by addressing deep markets, or investing in market-creating innovations. Scalable Economics: Tech-enabled businesses with proven, highly leverageable and defensible revenues, coupled with the ability to improve unit economics through cost and capital efficiency are able to achieve top-trend growth more easily than less efficient business structures. We are disciplined in ensuring the unit economics of the business we invest in are sustainable and attractive. Strong Agile Teams: We are looking for founders that combine strategic vision and executional capacity. Strong teams tend to be bound by a cohesive, inclusive, all-hands-on deck culture. We are seeking founders and teams guided by a clear value proposition and differentiated position in the market. Repeatable Growth: Solutions with highly replicable growth models and transferable problem-solution sets can most benefit from our growth investment and market expansion facilitation. As African markets are not uniform, we carefully model and test solution-market fit. How much funding will you get? If you are an African founder of a tech enabled startup that is solving a significant African development challenge please apply here. If you have little or no revenues, we will refer you to our Angel Fund for $10k to $100k funding consideration. If you have meaningful revenues with high growth potential, we may invest $50k-$250k.

RRW invests in outstanding European Tech companies. We promote their international take-off by providing significant financial firepower and game changing hands-on support in Europe & the US. Backing EU talents in the US Red River West was created to bring active support to outstanding European Tech Companies that have something unique to bring to the US market and transform them into US and Global successes. Within the team, we all share a track record of building and backing start-ups which became global leaders through EU to US expansion. We see our mission of backing European talents into US and Global successes as of strong impact. Europe is indeed home to a talented, driven pool of highly educated engineers and creative entrepreneurs. But the unfamiliarity with the US market means that too many promising European start-ups do not realize their full potential. US success doesn’t just mean bigger scale and more capital: translating Europe-based talent into US success requires expertise, commitment, and a deep understanding of the different business cultures. Narrow, hands-on portfolio strategy In the way we operate as investors and partners, we fully align with the success of the entrepreneurs we back. We have indeed a narrow portfolio strategy : we invest in only circa 10 companies per fund. It makes it possible for our team to dedicate plenty of time to the success of each entrepreneurs and truly provide game-changing hands-on support on both continents. This approach is really unique in VC and those differentiated foundations have been driving and fuelling our operating and ESG approach since day 1. Real-world impact We see our mission of backing European talents into US and Global successes as of strong impact by design. Europe is indeed home to talented and driven pool of top engineers and creative entrepreneurs, but they too often miss the familiarity needed with the US to scale globally. Additionally, we believe the Tech segments & models we invest in present huge opportunities to serve ESG global concerns, therefore investing in founders that care about their impact is one of our 5 core investment criteria. We have integrated environmental, social and governance best practices in numerous aspects of our own organization, including our proprietary sourcing platform. Bringing support on three ESG pillars Our latest fund RRW II Growth is classified under Article 8 of SFDR regulation, as a financial product that promotes, among other things, environmental or social characteristics. We decided to focus our efforts on three ESG subjects: Ethical Technology People Well-being Carbon Reduction We are convinced that those challenges fully align with our performance as a leading EU to US Tech investor; and this is our differentiated narrow portfolio strategy and operating DNA that allows us to act as dedicated and impactful partners on those three ESG pillars.

The Kapor Center is a family of three distinct organizations working under a shared mission to remove barriers to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, and tech careers, and tech entrepreneurship for underrepresented people of color. SMASH: A 501c(3) public charity which operates STEM education programs. Kapor Capital: A seed-stage investment fund. Kapor Foundation: A 501c(3) private operating foundation. The Kapor Center aims to enhance diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem through increasing access to tech and STEM education programs, conducting research on access and opportunity in computing, investing in community organizations and gap-closing social ventures, building diverse and inclusive companies, and increasing access to capital among diverse entrepreneurs. The three organizations are supported by a robust operations team - employed by a separate entity, Kapor Enterprises, Inc. (KEI)- , which provides finance, accounting, human resources, people operations, IT, events, legal, special initiatives, and other operational support. REBUILDING A MORE EQUITABLE TECH SECTOR, ECONOMY, AND SOCIETY From systemic racism and economic inequality to the growing role of tech in all aspects of our lives, we are in a historical moment that requires urgent, bold, and innovative solutions. The Kapor Center’s work focuses at the intersection of racial justice and technology, and we are doubling-down on our work to fight for racial justice and create a more inclusive technology sector. We understand that systems of inequality are at play–and we work to intentionally dismantle barriers to the creation and deployment of technologies across the Leaky Tech Pipeline through research-driven practices, programs, partnerships, and policies.

We aim to drive sustainable projects and business models that create positive environmental and social impact.