Derin and Osarumen wrote an excellent post on the absence of exits in African tech despite billions of private capital in investment. In it, they suggest that global IPOs are beyond the reach of African startups. I don’t agree. African startups can achieve global IPOs by looking beyond the Mediterranean to European markets and not to the U.S. This piece is a rejoinder to their position and makes a case for European (small-cap) IPOs by African venture-backed companies.
The premise in their piece is that less than 20 African startups with revenue around $150m are the only ones potentially eligible for a global IPO. This position is based on a contemporary Americentric view of venture and disregards the history of venture exits in the U.S. itself, where companies traditionally listed with much less revenue than is obtainable today. African companies with significantly less revenue than $150m can retreat to that tradi…
