BOTSWANA TECH FUND LAUNCHES TARGETED £50M MULTI-STAGE VENTURE FUND TO POWER SOUTHERN AFRICA'S DIGITAL ECONOMY
Gaborone, Botswana, 21st April 2026, The Botswana Tech Fund (BTF) today announced its launch as a targeted £50 million multi-stage venture capital fund with a first close in Q2/2026 focused on backing technology and tech-enabled businesses across Southern Africa. The fund is anchored by Pula Investments, the family office of Stephen Lansdown CBE, founder of Hargreaves Lansdown, and powered by Launch Africa Ventures.
BTF operates a dual strategy designed to meet founders at their stage and grow with them. The accelerator programme backs pre-seed companies who are based in Southern Africa with £25,000 to £100,000 in capital per cohort company, alongside structured support, market access, and hands-on operational guidance.
The growth strategy targets revenue-generating companies that are based in or expanding to Southern Africa from Seed through Series C, deploying £500,000 to £2 million per investment in both primary and secondary opportunities. Founders at this stage receive growth capital along with access to Launch Africa's continental network.
"Southern Africa is at a digital inflection point," said Martin Davis, Managing Partner of the Botswana Tech Fund. "Digital infrastructure has matured, but scalable application-layer solutions remain dramatically under-served. We see a generational opportunity to back the founders building the digital economy of tomorrow, before valuations and competition reset upward."
Botswana serves as BTF's operational and strategic hub. The country ranks in the top five in Africa on the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, boasts 80% internet penetration, among the highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, and is home to the SADC Secretariat, offering natural expansion pathways across the region. BTF has established a strategic partnership with the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH), providing proprietary deal flow, a physical base of operations, and connections to the winder Botswana Trade and Venture Ecosystem
BTF is led by Managing Partner Martin Davis, former CEO of FTSE 250-listed Molten Ventures, where he grew the portfolio to £2bn NAV and backed companies including Revolut, Trustpilot, Ledger, and UiPath. He is joined by General Partner, Florence Bavanandan, Head of Platform & Operations at Launch Africa Ventures, where she oversees infrastructure across 160+ portfolio companies and helped generate $3B in market capitalisation across two funds.
The fund is powered by Launch Africa Ventures, a Pan-African venture capital firm that has screened over 8,000 deals, funded 160+ ventures, and backed 300+ founders across 25 African countries since its founding in 2020. The partnership gives BTF access to one of the continent's most established early-stage investment networks.
BTF has also committed a portion of the investment return to the Tuli Conservation Trust, a Botswana-based non-profit focused on anti-poaching and community development in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve, reflecting the fund's commitment to long-term impact in the region.