Since 2011, the ViKtoria team has been actively supporting the growth of entrepreneurial ecosystems in various sectors in East Africa. Our engagements include:
We coach many innovative startups as well as support their strategic planning and capital raising activities. The team has helped start-ups raise both grant funding from donors and convertible debt finance from angel investors.
Viktoria also works with leading local and international clients in an advisory capacity, with a focus on entrepreneurial finance in East Africa. We've garnered key insights and substantial experience from engagements and research conducted in East Africa, as well as reviewing the global body of knowledge on startup ecosystem development.
Our research has led us to conclude that the key factor to the growth of entrepreneurial activity in any one sector is the number of success stories that sector generates; it only takes a small number of big successes to drive growth. To effect this, ViKtoria Solutions launched ViKtoria Ventures in 2015 – a start-up ecosystem development venture focused on attracting local and international angel investors to the best start-ups emerging in East Africa’s innovation space.
Business valuation, the process and set of procedures used when estimating the economic value of a business, is paramount for several reasons including fundraising, establishing a fair market value for equity transactions, periodic reporting to investors, among others. Here at Viktoria we have over 28 years of team work experience in company valuation with specific experience in valuation in the early stages of companies. Our most recent assignment was valuing a software company that was looking to expand to new markets. The objectives were: to determine whether the current business had created shareholder wealth and, the value shareholders are likely to derive from the expansion. The model used for fundraising purposes was business-to-business.
Negotiation and structuring transaction agreements is a critical step in any transaction as it seeks to align the founders’ needs and concerns with those of the investor. At ViKtoria, we have the pertinent negotiation skills and experience necessary in arriving at satisfactory terms for both the entrepreneur and the investor while keeping our eyes on the long term objectives of the entrepreneur. Most recently we participated in the negotiations of an early stage business in the digital advertising space that was in the process of being acquired.
Once a non-binding offer letter is signed between the entrepreneur and the interested investor, the next step is to identify the goals of the two parties, which tend to be strategic and/or financial. Both parties then establish steps to help them achieve these goals as well as how to share risks. Our team has experience in deal structuring in areas of reviewing term sheets, recommending acquisition vehicles or, entity types, resolving accounting issues, and advising on capital structuring. We appreciate that tax is a key consideration in investments and we seek to address these with the help of outsourced consultants. We have helped several early stage ventures review their term sheets and shareholder agreements to arrive at optimal structures that favor both them and the investors.
We work with several funds in helping them source for deals, carry out due diligence, close the investments, monitor their portfolios once invested in and manage the exit process. We are currently providing fund management services to HEVA Fund, a fund for Creatives in Kenya, and InReturn East Africa fund where we help manage their portfolio while searching for an exit. We are also in the process of raising a fund focused on scalable early stage business in Kenya.
We connect angel investors with innovative companies that are charting new paths and tapping into large market opportunities to meet basic needs such as entertainment, transport and infrastructure. Angel investors not only inject capital needed to test business models and early stage growth, but they also provide mentorship, sector knowledge and experience, business acumen and access to networks.
Start-ups who qualify to pitch should:
If you are the founder of a start-up seeking an opportunity to acquire capital please contact us.
Viktoria has brought together a network of local angel investors with a broad range of experience and expertise. The angel investors on board are either seeking to take their first steps in investing in innovation, or have already invested in start-ups within the region. We also have a network of successful international angel investors and venture capitalists that have seen start-ups transition through the various stages of the business cycle, that is, from ideation to exit. Our inaugural event was held in December 2014 and it saw four tech start-ups pitching.
