Quick Links

● Founders
● Pando Dao
● Silicon Zanzibar
● Venture Capital
● Zanzibar
● Dark/Light
● Search
● Menu
News

50 African tech founders launch Pando

DAO to drive development across Africa

By Muktar Oladunmade

Oct 18, 2022

 Zanzibar City Scape. Image Source: Viator

In recent times, the African tech ecosystem has been on a steady upward
trajectory. This year, venture funding on the continent is projected to cross the 7
billion mark with almost a thousand deals, establishing the continent as an outlier
in the current global downturn in funding.

Despite the constant rise in funding—Africa recorded $5.2 billion in funding

across 650 deals last year—startups still fail because of limited access to capital,
mentorship, and a solid network of support. According to the 2020 Better Africa
report, 54% of African startups founded between 2010 and 2018 shut down.
This year, several companies on the continent, including Kune, Sendy, and
Capiter, have struggled with issues like lack of funding, lack of product-market fit,
and management issues. To remedy this and support new founders, over 50
African founders have partnered to launch Pando DAO, a community of founders
with a mission to accelerate Africa’s startup ecosystem and drive development
across the continent.

Founding members of the community include over 50 founders and early builders
from startups across Africa, including the founders of mPharma, Wasoko, Pariti,
SunCulture, Africa Health Holdings, Stitch, Marketforce, 54Gene, Mara, VertoFX,
Turaco, Raise, Carry1st, Jetstream, and more. These founders represent
companies currently valued at over $2B and have raised over $500M in capital.
Pando member companies also employ over 10,000 people across 15 African
countries.

The community has also joined Silicon Zanzibar as an official community partner.
Silicon Zanzibar is a government initiative launched earlier this year to turn the
island into a hub for tech talent and companies. Pandos’ member companies will
be supported in opening operations and relocating staff to the island as part of
this initiative.

Additionally, Pando DAO will assist the government of Zanzibar in creating a

legal and policy framework that will promote innovation and the island nation’s
digital economy, along with a plan to foster the growth of local tech talent. In
doing so, it will enable Silicon Zanzibar to serve as a model for digital economic
enablement for other African governments.
The community will also launch a venture capital fund for early-stage tech
companies in Africa, which will leverage the expertise and network of its
members. There are also plans to open a hub for Pando DAO members and a
Pando CEO Summit, which will launch later this year.

Speaking on the launch of the partnership, Yacob Berhane, CEO and co-founder
at Pariti and a founding member of Pando DAO, said, “We are thrilled to be
partnering with the government of Zanzibar on this initiative. We believe that
through this partnership, we will be able to drive the tech ecosystem in Africa
forward, with Zanzibar serving as a key part of that story by attracting tech
companies and talent, and developing homegrown companies and talent as
well.”

Zanzibar’s Minister of Investment & Economic Development, Mudrick Soraga,

said, “We are excited to officially partner with Pando to co-create the policies and
initiatives that will transform Zanzibar’s economy. Working with Pando DAO
presents us an opportunity to work side-by-side with the leading players in the
African tech ecosystem.”

To solidify its claim as the strongest and most impactful founder community on
the continent, Pando DAO is only accepting founders that have raised over $2
million to join in its mission to accelerate the African tech ecosystem.

Share this article

●
●
●
 ●
●

Get the best African tech newsletters in your inbox

TC Daily

Next Wave

Events

Weekender

Subscribe

More From This Author

Funding

Remittance flows into Africa are fostering entrepreneurship

FinTech

MoneyHash expands operations into sub-Saharan Africa

Funding

Egyptian B2B ecommerce startup, MaxAB, raises $40 million pre-Series B

 Funding

Nigerian social commerce startup, Bumpa, raises $4 million

seed round
Muktar Oladunmade

Read More
News

54gene CEO steps down 2 months after the company laid off 30%
of its workforce

Abraham Augustine

News

Google partners with local community to restore and preserve a

historical site in Osun state

Daniel Adeyemi
News

Lagos state government to launch a venture capital fund

Damilare Dosunmu

Business

Safaricom Ethiopia goes live, secures mobile money license

Abraham Augustine

News
Google shares progress report on its 5-year $1 billion investment
in Africa

Daniel Adeyemi

News

Nigerian advertising regulator sues Meta for ₦30 billion over loss
of revenue and violation of laws

Daniel Adeyemi
TechCabal is a future-focused publication that speaks to African innovation and technology
in depth
Follow us

●
●

Copyright ©2022. All rights reserved. Privacy & Terms.