NEST GROWS NETWORK IN AFRICA WITH GARAGE PARTNERSHIP

Muthuri Kinyamu  and Aaron Fu 

 

Nest Nairobi has announced a formal partnership with two of the leading technology and innovation communities on the African continent, Cape Town Garage and Nairobi Garage, to offer local startups access to the VC’s growing international network as well as Asian funding. This initiative instantly equips existing members of the co-working hubs with a soft landing when visiting Hong Kong. Traveling entrepreneurs will be given a central space to work from as well as gain access to Nest’s unique support structure and mentor network.
The relationship is reciprocal as members of Nest’s global ecosystem also have the ability to reach into the East African and South African markets through the Cape Town and Nairobi Garage locations. When working in Africa, startups in the Nest portfolio benefit from well-equipped desks, meeting rooms and business support services that the Garages are already well known for.
 Hannah Clifford General Manager of Nairobi Garage, “Our partnership with Nest will reduce the barriers to entry for African innovators to global markets, and more so towards Asia. It will also help startups from Hong Kong scale into and across Africa by opening Nest and Nairobi Garage networks to each other’s communities, and therefore building a bridge between tech ecosystems in both continents.
“On one hand, we see startups from Africa with both the ambition and ability to scale globally and on the other, we see the potential for solutions developed by startups in Asia to deploy into Africa, this partnership allows us to leverage the resources of both organisations to create another piece towards an ecosystem which will facilitate the potential of both those trends. ” Aaron Fu, Managing Partner, Africa, Nest
 
About Nest
Founded in 2010, Nest is Hong Kong’s only private, full service startup ecosystem. Through the pillars of marketing, strategy, funding and network, Nest supports startups on their path to success, enabling them to scale rapidly. In addition to providing capital, Nest prepares startups for growth, further fundraising, as well as new market expansion. With an eye for the truly disruptive, Nest is actively involved in all of its companies and drives them to reach their full potential, consequently fostering the startup ecosystem locally and developing Hong Kong as a global entrepreneurial hub.
More recently Nest has been at the forefront of developing accelerator programs with leading corporates in Asia. The 12-week, cohort-based programmes are designed to advance startups in the HealthTech, FinTech and Smart Cities sectors and include mentorship and educational components before culminating in a public demo day.
Nest is aggressively expanding its global reach and now has presence in London, Nairobi, Paris and San Francisco. For all the companies Nest has invested in, go to www.angel.co/nest-investments/.

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