Investor accelerator dedicated to supporting the next generation of African-focused investors and ecosystem builders globally, Dream VC, has announced the commencement of applications for the 2023 cohort of its flagship VC accelerator program.
The program offers an extensive curriculum, practical training, and direct exposure to world-class investors, providing the ideal launchpad for aspiring and current investors to break even into the African venture space.
A Look at Dream VC’s 2023 program
This year, Dream VC will run two programs:
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- The 3-month-long Launch into Venture Capital Program (LIVC)
- The 5-month-long Investor Accelerator Program
Applications for the 2023 cohort “Launch into VC (LIVC)”Launch into VC (LIVC)” and “Investor Accelerator” programs opened on Monday, March 13th, and will close on the 16th of April 2023. Both programs will run in Summer and Autumn. Launch into VC runs for 3 months from June to Late August. The Investor Accelerator program commences in June and runs until October. A total of 5 months.
Both programs combine an extensive curriculum, and practical training with direct exposure to world-class investors to provide sophisticated investor training. Dream VC’s carefully curated investor-talent accelerator programs are dedicated to training the next generation of African-focused investors to fill this much-needed gap.
“Launch into VC” and “Investor Accelerator” is Dream VC’s flagship annual and remotely delivered venture capital fellowship program that provides the ideal launchpad for all aspiring and current investors to learn and sharpen the skills needed to successfully seek, invest in and support African technology businesses.
Dream VC’s application is always highly competitive. Based on previous data, and interviews with the founders. It has a 10% acceptance rate, and applicants are taken through a 4-stage application process involving motivational questions, a video assignment, interviews with past fellows and Dream VC staff.
Founded in 2021, Dream VC has seen over 2000 applications for its past programs, and has trained more than 80 African and Africa-focused investment professionals in 3 successive cohorts, many of whom are currently leading and operating in different investment roles for leading African venture and tech firms.
The strong focus on Africa and the global presence of the Dream VC community makes them stand out from similar programs. “Dream VC gave me a great simulation of life as a VC, and I was able to successfully pivot from investment banking into venture capital within weeks of graduating from the program,” said, Lamin Darboe, VC Associate at BDev Ventures, a Dream VC Fellow from the 2022 LIVC cohort.
Previous Dream VC cohorts have benefited from guest lectures from leading African GPs such as Dr. Ola Brown (HealthCap), Samakab Hashi (Lateral Frontiers), Satoshi Shinada (Verod-Kepple Africa Ventures), Keet Van Zyl (Knife Capital), and Zachariah George (Launch Africa Ventures).
In the last 6 years, African technology companies have raised more than $15 billion from angel investors, institutional venture investors, and development funders. The astounding growth of the venture market in Africa has deservedly put the highlight on the continent which continued to grow in 2022 despite a global decline in venture funding to startups.
While a significant portion of the capital raised is foreign, local funds are deepening their participation in Africa’s burgeoning venture ecosystem and becoming critical players in the stability of the ecosystem. At the same time, angel investors and syndicate funds are raising institutional capital from foreign and local limited partners.
Given the acceleration of technology businesses, digital adoption, and investor interest in Africa, it is only logical to build a deep pool of sophisticated investment talent to build the foundations of the continent’s private markets needed to ensure the sustainability and sustained impact of venture investment.
Just as there are significant efforts across the continent to build out support infrastructure for entrepreneurs, the key to unlocking local capital lies in investor support infrastructure, which is sorely lacking compared to almost every other global ecosystem. Hence, the mission of Dream VC goes beyond just accelerating ‘X’ amount of investors over ‘Y’ amount of years; the company are builders who obsessively mull over how we can plug into the gaps in the investor ecosystem.
Co-founder at Dream VC Cindy Ai, strongly believes in the potential of African talent, and its programs to help prepare future leaders who will join VCs, launch ESOs, become angels, venture builders, and even entrepreneurs.
After the successful pilot launch of Dream VC’s flagship program in 2021, and the successful two programs in 2022, the organization has now returned with bold ambitions to accelerate the next generation of ecosystem-building African investors. It will train individuals to gain in-depth knowledge of investing through an Afro-centric lens, gaining the most valuable skills and toolkits to become successful investors in their respective ecosystems.
Dream VC’s mission is to provide knowledge, access, and built-in networks to extraordinarily driven, positively minded and collaborative individuals who dream of playing a direct role in birthing innovation in all tech sectors on the continent.