$63 million fund targets Africa’s fragmented startup ecosystem

For an African entrepreneur, growing a business can mean navigating a maze of funding platforms, customer networks, mentors, and investment requirements before finding the right doors to open.

The opportunity may exist, as may the investor, customer or government contract, but what is often missing is the connection between them.

That is the problem 22 On Sloane, an African startup support organisation, is trying to tackle with KUMii, an AI-powered platform launched in Cape Town this week to help African startups and small businesses navigate the continent’s scattered ecosystem of funding, markets, mentorship and business support.

The launch comes alongside a much bigger financial ambition. 22 On Sloane says it is raising R1 billion ($63 million) through Sloane Capital to invest in startups and Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across Africa.

The two initiatives target a practical challenge facing African entrepreneurs: accessing the capital, customers and expertise needed to grow across fragmented markets. Businesses expanding across the continent must contend with different regulations, currencies, procurement systems, funding networks and support programmes, many of which operate independently of one another. For entrepreneurs, finding and accessing the right opportunities can be as difficult as finding the resources themselves.

Jonathan Ortmans, founder and president of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), a global enterprise network, on Wednesday put the challenge bluntly at GEC+Africa 2026, a Pan-African summit for startups and investors.

“Never has the entrepreneurial economy created more value. But never has it created that value in so few places,” he said, pointing to the growing concentration of startup growth and late-stage capital in a small number of ecosystems.

The comments came on the opening day of the GEC+Africa Summit in Cape Town, where 22 On Sloane launched KUMii, an AI-powered platform aimed at connecting Africa’s entrepreneurs to funding, markets, mentorship, learning and business tools. The African startup support organisation also announced plans to raise R1 billion ($63 million) through Sloane Capital to support startups and Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) across Africa.

22 On Sloane sees the two moves as part of the same strategy, giving African entrepreneurs access to new pools of capital and better digital infrastructure, connecting them with resources already available across the ecosystem.

“Africa’s paradox represents one of the most compelling economic contradictions of the 21st century,” said Kizito Okechukwu, executive head of 22 On Sloane. “The continent holds immense structural opportunity, yet this opportunity is consistently constrained by internal and external fragmentation.”

African businesses face expensive borders, uneven regulations and weak infrastructure, while entrepreneurs often have to navigate a maze of disconnected programmes, funders, tender portals, mentors and business services.

Norma Ngobane, CEO of KUMii, said the platform is intended to make the connections between entrepreneurs and the ecosystem more practical.

“Funding and finding customers is often fragmented. Entrepreneurs are navigating multiple platforms and different environments to find the right support, funding and customers,” she stated.

KUMii allows businesses to create profiles and use AI-powered matching to identify relevant funders and investment opportunities. Its market-access tools match businesses with tender and procurement opportunities, while its business-readiness tools help entrepreneurs develop documents such as business plans and prepare for funding.

The platform also offers mentorship, learning resources and access to business software. More than 4,000 startups and MSMEs have already registered, according to 22 On Sloane.

“We want to make the ecosystem easier to navigate, easier to participate in and more capable of converting support into meaningful business growth,” Ngobane said.

22 On Sloane revealed that Sloane Capital, a startup and MSME investment fund, has secured a Category II licence and a National Credit Regulator licence and is now raising R1 billion ($63 million) to finance startups and MSMEs across Africa. The fund is intended to move businesses beyond investment readiness towards growth and scale.

“We need to think of better financial instruments and alternative methods to ensure that capital reaches each and every entrepreneur that needs it,” Okechukwu said.

As global capital flows towards AI and a small number of dominant ecosystems, that challenge is becoming more urgent. Ortmans noted that about two-thirds of the rebound in global startup ecosystem value over the past year landed in three United States cities, while close to nine in every 10 late-stage dollars is flowing into AI.

His concern is not that Africa cannot compete, but that the current concentration is the result of choices rather than an immutable law. “The narrowing is not a law. It’s a result, and results can be changed,” he said.

African ecosystem builders, however, will have to prove that their interventions produce measurable outcomes rather than simply generating activity. “Ultimately, we’re not necessarily measuring real performance. We’re measuring too much activity,” Ortmans said.

For Okechukwu, the broader opportunity lies in breaking down the barriers between African markets. “On a fragmented continent, connection is power. And in a connected Africa, opportunity becomes exponential,” he said.

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