Haske Ventures

Haskè Ventures is a venture studio founded in 2021 in Dakar, Senegal by Madji Sock and Abdourahmane Diop. The name "Haskè" means "light" in Hausa, and the firm's model is fundamentally different from a traditional VC fund. Rather than writing cheques into existing startups, Haskè co-creates companies from scratch, working alongside founding teams from the initial idea through MVP validation, market launch, and Series A readiness. They have raised $4 million since inception, backed 13 ventures, and deploy up to $700,000 per company at pre-seed and seed stages.

The geographic focus is deliberately narrow and underserved. Francophone West Africa has historically received a fraction of the venture capital flowing into Anglophone hubs like Lagos and Nairobi, and Haskè positions itself as the builder filling that gap. The studio targets sectors where basic infrastructure is missing for populations living on less than $2 per day, which means health access, agricultural processing, logistics, and sustainable construction materials rather than consumer fintech or social media.

What makes Haskè distinct is the investor-operator model. The team does not just fund companies and step back. They provide legal and accounting services from day one, embed venture architects into each company, and actively manage the business through three phases: co-creation (3--6 months of discovery and MVP validation), launch (12--18 months of market entry), and scaling (2--3 months of Series A preparation). The staff skews young (25--35 on average) and is 63% female, which reflects the studio's commitment to building diverse teams across its portfolio.

Note: X/Twitter handles for the co-founders could not be verified. The studio's Instagram is @haskeventures.