IFC is considering to invest $1 million in Flat6Labs Tunis’ upcoming $10 million fund

International Financial Corporation (IFC), is considering to invest $1 million Flat6Labs Tunis, the documents on its information portal have revealed. The investment will be made in Flat6Labs Tunis’ upcoming $10 million fund, according to the documents. First spotted by Digest Africa, the documents note, “The proposed IFC equity commitment is up to $1 million, not to exceed 20% of total commitments. Flat6Labs Tunis is targeting total commitments of TND 30 million.”

Flat6Labs Tunis, founded in 2016, is a seed stage fund and accelerator that was established as a result of a partnership between Flat6Labs, Le15, and Meninx Holding. Their first batch of startups graduated in February last year, with each one of them receiving about $45,000 as investment.

The fund, according to information available on IFC’s website now has Flat6Labs, Meninx Holding, the Tunisian American Enterprise Fund, Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie, and the Le15 founders, among its founders.

The upcoming $10 million fund is being dubbed as Anava Seed Fund, per IFC, and will invest in 90 early-stage companies in Tunisia.

“Anava Seed Fund (“Flat6Labs Tunis” or the “Fund”) is a startup accelerator and early stage venture capital fund raising TND 30 million to invest in around 90 early stage companies in Tunisia. This investment will fall under the IFC Startup Catalyst initiative, which supports entrepreneurship and innovation at the earliest stages,” explain the documents.

IFC aims to address the funding gap and the support the VC ecosystem in Tunisia with their investment, “By investing in incubators/accelerators and early stage funds via the IFC Startup Catalyst program, IFC aims to help build and support local, sustainable ecosystems for entrepreneurship and venture capital. Flat6Labs Tunisa through its bootcamp, acceleration cycles, early stage investments, and various outreach events, Flat6Labs Tunis will help to accelerate the development of the nascent VC ecosystem in Tunisia.”

The World Bank Group member also hopes to increase inclusion of women entrepreneurs and create “high-skilled jobs to match the highly educated workforce in Tunisia and spur economic growth.”

The status of the project in these documents is listed as ‘Pending Signing’ but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the investment hasn’t been finalized already as the status of even Vezeeta in disclosure documents is also ‘Pending Signing’ but IFC has already announced their $1 million investment in the company two weeks ago.

IFC has previously also invested $2 million in Flat6Labs Cairo in late 2016. Their most recent investment in a MENA-based VC fund was the $15 million that they invested in BECO Capital less than two months ago.