AI-centric venture capital firm achieves its initial funding milestone with a $50 million software fund.
P1 Ventures, a venture capital firm co-founded in 2020 by Mauritanian entrepreneur Mikael Hajjar and Hisham Halbouny, has successfully completed the initial $25 million phase of its $50 million second fund. This fund is dedicated to nurturing African software enterprises with both regional and global growth prospects.
The firm’s investment focus spans a broad spectrum of sectors, encompassing fintech, e-commerce, healthtech, software as a service (SaaS), and artificial intelligence (AI). Mikael Hajjar, reflecting on the unique position he occupies as the first Mauritanian to launch such a fund, emphasizes P1 Ventures’ commitment to supporting ambitious African entrepreneurs who are developing products and services catering to a regional or even global customer base.
Since its inception, P1 Ventures has deployed its capital into 29 early-stage ventures spanning ten different countries, including notable investments in companies like Money Fellows in Egypt and Reliance Health in Nigeria. Notably, the firm’s maiden investment was in the Algerian “super-app” Yassir, specializing in ride-hailing and last-mile delivery, which recently concluded a successful $150 million Series B funding round. More recently, P1 Ventures led a seed round for Gameball, a software company focused on gamifying loyalty and customer retention.
P1 Ventures benefits from the guidance of a distinguished advisory committee that includes Bernard Dalle, a founding member of Index Ventures, and Emil Michael, former Chief Business Officer at Uber.
The firm’s strategic emphasis lies in harnessing the potential of AI to drive progress across Africa, especially in industries like agriculture and FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods) retail. They see AI as a means to overcome legacy infrastructure constraints, akin to how mobile money superseded traditional debit and credit card systems in the region. P1 Ventures has invested in Nkoloso, a company utilizing satellite imagery and AI to gather data and monitor agricultural land. This technology offers applications ranging from tracking crop acreage and yields for credit and insurance assessments to estimating the value of timber and carbon credits.
In the FMCG sector, P1 Ventures has backed a Senegalese startup employing computer vision, geolocation, and conversational AI technologies to collect and analyze data for brands and distributors. The firm envisions the potential expansion of this approach to other industries such as healthcare, consumer electronics distribution, and the creative economy.
Furthermore, P1 Ventures integrates AI into its deal-sourcing and support processes, recognizing the transformative potential of AI not only for the continent but also for venture capital distribution. Leveraging AI strategically, P1 Ventures aims to expand its reach in a region where information and data resources are traditionally limited.