Saviu Ventures

Saviu Ventures is the rare Africa-focused VC that has built its entire identity around Francophone markets. Founded in 2018 and incorporated in Mauritius, the firm operates from Abidjan and Paris with additional presence in Dakar. While most Africa VCs treat French-speaking countries as a secondary allocation within a pan-African mandate, Saviu has made it the primary thesis. Roughly 70 to 75% of their portfolio sits in Francophone Africa, with Cote d'Ivoire alone accounting for 11 portfolio companies.

Fund I (EUR 10M) is fully deployed across approximately 12 startups, with six exits already on the books. The Lapaire exit in January 2025, where Saviu sold its 22% stake to Creadev (the Mulliez family office), delivered a multi-bagger return and demonstrated that early-stage exits are possible in Francophone Africa when the entry valuation is disciplined. Fund II opened with a EUR 12M first close in November 2023 and reached EUR 25M (~$26M) by early 2025, backed by the African Development Bank (EUR 6.5M, including EUR 2M in first-loss hedging via the European Commission's Boost Africa programme), Proparco, Triple Jump, AXIAN Group, and the Dutch Good Growth Fund. The final target sits between EUR 30M and EUR 50M, with a mandate to back 15 to 20 companies at EUR 500K to EUR 3M cheques.

The investment philosophy is explicitly anti-hype. Saviu targets a sub-20% portfolio failure rate against an industry average closer to 70%, which means they lean toward B2B and B2B2C models with clear paths to profitability. They plan for exits within 3 to 5 years at roughly 10x revenue valuations, aiming for 5x+ returns. The total portfolio now stands at 25 companies across 10 countries, with 19 active and 6 exited.