Convergence Partners: Fixed Broadband Only Reaches 7 Percent of Sub-Saharan Africa Population

Private equity investor that focuses on tech firms Convergence Partners has closed its third fund, the Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) at US$120 million.

The fund is targeting a final size of US$250 million.

Now with more than US$400m of capital under management, Convergence Partners remains the largest private equity investor dedicated to digital infrastructure in Africa.

Investors in CPDIF are leading institutions that continue to support African growth such as the CDC Group (the UK’s development finance institution), the United States International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Proparco (the private sector arm of the Agence Française de Développement – AFD Group).

According to reports, CPDIF investments will be driven by the infrastructure needs of the emerging growth themes in the digital infra and structure ecosystem, specifically fibre, wireless, data centers, towers, etc., as well as 5G, IoT, and the cloud.

The fund also has a strong and measurable impact objective and, via its participation in the build-out of Africa’s digital infrastructure, will boost entrepreneurship, innovation, skills development, and job creation through massively boosting access to the internet and all the critical digital tools it offers.

Africa remains by far the most underserved region in terms of broadband and digital technology access.

Despite the advances in the rollout of digital infrastructure on the Continent, fixed broadband penetration in sub-Saharan Africa still lags far behind at about 7% of the population.

There is a massive investment opportunity that still exists to address digital inclusion with the World Bank estimating that more than US$100 billion of capital is required to bring sub-Saharan Africa to acceptable levels of digital access by 2030.

“We are delighted to have achieved this milestone particularly given the headwinds in African PE fundraising generally, and the impact of the Covid pandemic on business activity, over the past 12 months. We are very pleased with the level of support from both repeat and new investors and believe this reflects our solid track record and the opportunity CPDIF presents at this crucial time in both tech and African context,” says Brandon Doyle CEO of Convergence Partners.