Interview with Pacer Ventures Managing Partner Gbemi Akande

My name is Dustin Betts. I'm the content editor at the Founder Institute, and I'm here today with Bemi Akande. He's the managing partner of Pacer Ventures. The fund is an FIDC Lab alum, and they're focusing on African startups that align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and solve some of the most critical challenges on the African continent. Uh, Bemi Akande, thanks so much for joining us.

Thank you, Dustin. Nice to be here.

Awesome. So before we dive into it, the first question I always like to ask first is just tell us a little bit about your own background story. You know, what were the experiences of yours, professional, personal experiences, that led up to you founding Pacer Ventures?

Yeah, thanks for that, Dustin. Again, my name is Bemi, and I live here in Toronto in Canada, but over the last 10 years I've worked very closely with startups across different continents, basically. I worked for almost 7 years in the, in the Middle East and North African region, which put me very close to that continent and that region, basically, in terms of what's happening in that ecosystem, before I moved here also 3 years ago to work with startups across different industries. And all through this time, myself and my partners have remained very close to the African ecosystem. What's happening there, understanding the gaps, understanding how we can make an impact and fill those gaps. And that's what led to Pacer Ventures. So my work across the different parts and regions has been in different capacities, from consulting to running incubators to running corporate innovation programs. Right now, we feel the time is right for myself and my partners to come together fill that funding gap that we've perceived in the African continent.

Yeah, perfect. It's like, you know, not just regional diversity, but definitely has played different roles, you know, within the startup ecosystem. So coming with that sort of breadth of experience, that's awesome. Now, I know because I'm already somewhat familiar with Pacer Ventures through FISBC Lab that, you know, you're changing the pace of innovation, working primarily on early-stage investments in sectors that have big impacts, but Let's hear it sort of straight from you directly. Please give us your high-level pitch for those who are not familiar with the fund yet. What is Pacer Ventures?

Thank you. Pacer Ventures is a $3 million venture fund focused on investing in African tech startups that are solving the most critical problems at the bottom of the pyramid using mobile technology. And the reason for that is because mobile technology is proliferating across the continent at a very fast rate. And we believe that startups that can leverage on this trend can provide solutions to the mass market at a capacity that will be impactful over the coming years. So that's what Pisa Ventures is doing, investing, backing, and supporting startups that are investing— that are building solutions rather at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid.

Perfect. Yeah, I want to dive in, you know, to different details of your investment thesis there, but I guess, you know, at the top, A lot like Founder Institute itself, you know, Pacer focused on, you know, impact startups and aligning with the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Talk to us a little bit about the most important SDG-aligned challenges or opportunities that you see for impact startups to solve specifically on the African continent. What are the SDGs, I guess, that you're looking most closely at?

Yeah, so right now, uh, Pesa Ventures, we've narrowed down on our 4 key SDGs that we believe will move the needle in terms of impact across Africa. And the first one is good health and well-being. We believe that access and opportunities in primary healthcare delivery will be highly impactful. Secondly, we have decent work and economic growth, so things around productivity, financial inclusion, And that scope of things will be very interesting to see how it can really make an impact in the continent. The third one is quality education. So Pesa Ventures is really focused on the delivery and access of education, the democratization, I would say, of content and information. That's why edtech really is an important aspect for us. And lastly, zero hunger. So that's the agricultural value chain and how we can begin to source for interesting solutions that make an impact in different stages of the value chain. So those 4 SDGs are what we're focusing on: good health and wellbeing, decent work and economic growth, zero hunger, and quality education. Those are the 4 we will focus on right now.

Perfect. I love the specificity, you know, because obviously all 17 of the Sustainable Development Goals are very worthy, like, initiatives. But yeah, I just love that kind of focus on those 4. So yeah, that's really cool. Conversely, from a pure technology perspective, you mentioned a little bit about mobile technology. You know, what are the tech innovations that excite you most from a technology perspective at Pacer? Or feel free to speak a little bit more to that mobile technology.

Yeah, so we are really narrowed down on mobile technology. By 2025, 84% of the continent will be on smart mobile technology, basically having SIM cards or having smartphones too, right? So We believe that being able to understand this trend and the kind of solutions that can build on top of this trend is what our thesis should focus on. So right now we are laser-focused on that. Mobile tech is important. The penetration is high. It's ubiquitous and everybody believes that by being able to deliver solutions via mobile, that they'll be able to reach the mass millions, right? So this is one of the reasons why we're laser-focused on mobile tech right now.

Yeah, no, I— that totally makes sense to me, like, in terms of, you know, looking at it as a platform basically for, you know, for creating this impact through mobile tech because, like you said, everybody's becoming more connected online. Yeah, that totally makes sense. Africa is really, really exciting in terms of having a number of up-and-coming startup ecosystems that are sort of exploding onto the scene, you know, whether Silicon Valley is paying full attention yet or not. I know you say you're based in Toronto, but like Lagos is one of those up-and-coming communities that I believe your team is based in, in part. What excites you most in terms of what's happening regionally or within like local innovation ecosystems in Lagos, Johannesburg, or elsewhere across the continent?

Yeah, thanks for that. You know, when you look at the key ecosystems in the, in the Sub-Saharan region, or even north of the Sahara, you find that the sheer presence of talent is really what's driving the pace of innovation. So that's talent across different disciplines, but the human capital has more or less defined what's possible in terms of innovation. So we are really encouraged by that. We also see that the fact that people that are talented in engineering, design, and product and things like that, and entrepreneurs also are finding new ways to achieve success and innovation and become effective despite the daunting challenges on the continent. So we believe that the presence of talent and the, basically the overcoming spirit, I would say, of people on that continent has really defined the way we will see innovation materialize over the coming years.

Yeah, yeah, it's been so interesting for me just over the past year or so, just hearing it continue to bubble up, just hearing Lagos, as a startup ecosystem, you know, come up more and more. And I know it's very young, obviously, so that up-and-coming talent, you know, it's like a— it's a large sort of spring. So yeah, that's all exciting stuff. You've obviously done a huge amount to establish and build Pacer Ventures to where it is today. What are some of the biggest challenges that you have faced and overcome?

Yeah, it's important to note that we launched Pacer Ventures a few weeks before the whole world basically shut down because of the pandemic. And I mean, for good reason, there was a clear need for us to all go into lockdown. But that kind of defined how we had to go about building this fund. The first few weeks were difficult in the sense that we had to evolve into a new model to adapt ourselves to the new normal, I would say. And that was the first challenge we had to face, that what What's coming? What's the investor sentiment right now? And how do we begin to think about fundraising? But we've been able to overcome these challenges by just being persistent, by also understanding that the demographic or the target market that we are focusing on right now should be catered for in a different way. So we evolved ourselves over the course of the pandemic in 2020. Right now we are still at it, we are still persisting on. So I would say the biggest challenge we faced was being able to understand the uncertainties that the pandemic has presented, the COVID-19 pandemic has presented, and also be able to craft out our own strategy despite the prevailing realities.

Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And especially at the beginning of COVID when you were just launching, I mean, that's when the money— everybody seemed to pull back and it subsequently seemed to have recovered. To some extent, at least in the US investment landscape, but I know at the beginning, everybody really, really pulled back and big challenge, not just for founders in that time, but for new funds as well.

Exactly.

What advice would you offer to other would-be new fund managers, maybe people who are where you were a year or so ago, who are just thinking about getting started? Any advice for those trepid few potential new fund investors?

Yeah, again, it's about tenacity, it's about persistence, it's about being able to be flexible, you know, taking your strategy and understanding that this strategy, even though it looks good on paper, you know, when you hit the road, things might change, and being able to be flexible enough to adapt to that change is what's most important. So we are still at it. We've been able to weather most of the storm so far right now, so I would say tenacity and persistence is what my biggest advice would be for sure to upcoming fund managers.

Perfect. Yeah, really applicable for anybody. So that's perfect advice. I know, so you mentioned, I mean, Pacer launched the $3 million fund, I believe it was announced in November. You know, this is sort of the last question as we wrap up, you know, what's the latest? Where's Pacer headed next or any other news or updates for the community or any asks for the audience who might be watching?

Yeah, so we're still actively fundraising, uh, we're still actively speaking to LPs, uh, we're targeting a first close by March 2021, uh, and, uh, yeah, we're really just, you know, open to any discussions and introductions that, uh, to people that will be interested in what's happening in Africa. We are excited about the opportunity, uh, and if anyone is interested and wants to learn more about what we're doing also invest in our fund, we are open to those kinds of discussions. So our target first close is in March 2021. We're still actively fundraising.

Perfect. Yeah. And the website is pacer.vc. So if that's you, you're the potential LP, you know, listening, you're interested in impact on the continent and mobile technologies as a platform for creating impact, yeah, definitely reach out to Demi. This has been really interesting, you know, learning about the changes that are happening in the startup and investment landscape. On the African continent, and I know at Founder Institute we're all really looking forward to keeping up with Pacer Ventures and where you and your team are headed next. So, um, Kemi Akande, thanks so much again for joining us today.

Thank you very much, Dustin. And, uh, yeah, we're also excited to be a strategic partner with Founder Institute across Africa, so we're looking forward to the impact we'll make together. Thank you so much.