GPUs in Nigeria and Financing the African AI Dream
Financing the African AI Dream
In our most recent monthly meetup, we discussed various topics related to finance, investment, and entrepreneurship in Africa. The conversation covered multiple topics, including the challenges of raising funds for African startups, the importance of education and reading, and the need for Africans to invest in Africa.
Some of the key points discussed include
1. Challenges of raising funds for African startups: we talked about the difficulties faced by African startups in raising funds, particularly from foreign investors, and how the valuation of African companies is often lower compared to their US counterparts, making it harder for them to attract investment.
2. Need for Africans to invest in Africa and the role of banks in the ecosystem: We also discussed the need for Africans to invest in Africa, rather than relying on foreign investors. One point that was raised is that banks in Africa often focus on retail banking, rather than investment banking, which can limit their ability to support businesses.
3. Importance of community, collaboration, and the importance of understanding the global market: Another point that came up was the importance of community and collaboration in achieving success and the importance of understanding the global market and how it works. We need to be aware of global trends and opportunities to compete effectively.
There are GPUs in Nigeria
One of the highlights of our recent Africa Deep Tech Community Open Day was a talk by Johnson Agogbua titled “Building scalable compute for AI in Africa”. In the session, he shared his journey about how he left Silicon Valley to come back to Nigeria to start Kasi Cloud, the firm building what will become the largest hyper-scale, AI-ready center in West Africa.
You can catch the full session below.
Register for the upcoming Deep Tech Summit in Morocco!
The second edition of the Deeptech Summit 2025, happening on May 8-9, 2025, at the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) campus in Benguerir, Morocco.
Mohammed VI Polytechnic University is a Moroccan non-profit private research university with a major focus on Deep Tech. It is also home to UM6P Ventures, the university's investment arm with an impressive Deep Tech investment portfolio actively invested in Agriculture, Chemicals, GreenTech, and Healthtech.
The university is inviting African researchers, investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, to register and engage with the second edition of the Deeptech Summit (DTS) 2025, happening on May 8-9, 2025, at the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) campus in Benguerir, Morocco.
Register For DeepTech Summit 2025, HERE!
