- Enygma Ventures has launched a new fund towards startups with post-pandemic innovative solutions. The fund is open to entrepreneurs and innovators, both men and women, from the African continent.
In the battle to stay alive through the current Covid-19 crisis business leaders find themselves in crisis management and strategic planning. Coping with the economic challenges of a forced shutdown is exceptionally tough for every business. However, the unseen benefit of such a catastrophe is the creation of a window of opportunity to solve either newly created problems or systemic problems that have had no urgency for resolution or change.
We currently live in transition, stuck in between a world that was and the world that will become. Now is therefore the moment in time to craft and impact what our go forward world will look like. To that end Enygma Ventures in partnership with Startup Circles, is calling upon entrepreneurs, visionaries and the problem solvers of our time to create the world of our future. Enygma Ventures will provide seed funding and scholarships to startups who are creating innovative solutions to address problems that may remain in a post Covid-19 world.
“We have decided to launch our new Shift Fund as the current crisis has given a rare opportunity for large scale changes in the world. Suddenly, we have a period in which we can influence change for good” Jacob Dusek says, General Partner and Co-founder of Enygma Ventures. “It’s time to redefine normal and in the process, create a better normal.”
When disasters happen, it creates a small window where society is open to accepting sweeping changes and we’ve already seen this start to happen with education, and telemedicine. While the window is open, Enygma wants to help businesses create these types of changes for the benefit of creating a better world post pandemic.
Through this sub fund, Enygma Ventures is expecting to provide seed capital for 20-40 startups and provide mentoring, training and business validation scholarships through Startup Circles. Startup Circles is an online platform that helps entrepreneurs quickly move from ideation, to validation, to Startup, to investor ready.
Sandras Phiri, Founder and CEO of Startup Circles comments, “Previously, you needed to be in a startup hotspot like Cape Town or Nairobi to gain access to the right circles of mentors and investors. But now with Startup Circles, entrepreneurs have the same access to opportunities, mentorship and investment whether they are in Lilongwe or Luanda, male or female. Anybody with access to the internet can apply to access startup support and funding.”
Startup Circles works with mentors from all around the world who assist in facilitating moving quickly through ideation to validation to operation. The cross-pollination of ideas and sharing of learnings cannot be replicated anywhere. Businesses in ideation stage can apply here and existing businesses can apply here. Their applications will go through a vetting process which will determine whether they will receive a scholarship or seed funding or both. For those not selected for fast tracking, they will still be able to use the same resources from Startup Circles, just not sponsored. Startup Circles programs start at R286 a month and more details can be found on the website www.startupcircles.ai
Enygma Ventures hopes to evidence that there are better legitimate options to the way things worked pre 2020. Who wants to go back to a three-hour daily commute? Or to a crowded doctor’s office just for routine appointments? Yes, it was normal, but it is now time to redefine our future.
Should you require more information, please contact Jabulile Sonya Ngwenya at jabulile@enygmaventures.com or WhatsApp message her at +27 (0) 76 890 8956.
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