The 12th Angel Fair Africa (aka AFA@12) will be held at Google’s 9th Avenue offices in New York City on September 12.
Angel Fair Africa is an event that brings entrepreneurs and investors together to do deals.
This marks the first time the event is being hosted in the US, after eleven years of being staged in different African countries – such as South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique.
Prolific angel investor Esther Dyson will keynote the event – sharing her many years of investing experience from backing Netbeans in 1997 to Flickr, 23andMe, Abridge.ai, Ilara Health, Meetup, Oradian, Rasello, Square, SWVL, Trella and others, and founding and working for nonprofit community-health project Wellville (2014 to 2024). She is also chair of The Commons Project Foundation, which among other things is working to train and employ youth to deliver health goods and digital health services in Africa, starting first in Rwanda. She is currently writing a book called “Term Limits: A design for living in the age of AI,” to appear in early 2027.
Esther Dyson returns for a keynote conversation eight years since she took that role at our 2017 event in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. According to her, “The world has changed in so many ways, yet so many problems persist. Startups are not the solution, but they are part of changing the environment that will allow more Africans to prosper. In the age of AI, it’s easier to build process infrastructure more quickly, which can help startups to scale.”
The event will bring ten African startup founders from the continent to the US to pitch to a room of curated investors with the intent of doing deals. This follows the launch event held earlier this year in Nairobi, Kenya on March 25th and follows a roadshow held in Johannesburg, South Africa on June 19th. Hosted in partnership with the Afrishela Fund – which is sponsored by the Graca Machel Trust, these events were focused on diversity and inclusivity for syndicating deals across the two markets. The collaborative nature of these past events have laid the foundation for what will be an exciting AFA@12 event in NY during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) week.
“We are excited to debut the annual AFA in NY as we have had significant participation from US investors over the years. It is also an opportunity to bring the event closer to the African diaspora in the US” said Eric Osiakwan, Co-Founder of Angel Fair Africa and Managing Partner, Chanzo Capital – moderator of the keynote.
“We are thrilled to welcome the 12th Angel Fair Africa in New York City this September! This landmark partnership will bring together phenomenal investors and founders from across the continent, marking a pivotal moment for collaboration and investment in Africa’s vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem” adds Jason Scott – founder of Five Two Five, BAG Collective, and XA Network Africa.
