Zachariah George

Managing Partner, Launch Africa Ventures | Co-Founder & CIO, Startupbootcamp AfriTech | Angel Investor | Entrepreneur

Zachariah George is the Managing Partner at Launch Africa Ventures, Africa’s leading early-stage venture capital firm, with a portfolio of over 150 tech startups across more than 25 countries. He is also the Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Startupbootcamp AfriTech, the continent’s top multi-corporate-backed venture accelerator program.

 

As a prominent angel investor, Zach has supported over 50 high-impact tech startups in Africa, including notable ventures like Flutterwave, KudaBank, Mono, and Yoco. His investment expertise and industry influence have earned him recognition in leading global publications such as Fast Company (May 2018), Destiny Man (Nov 2019), Forbes (Aug 2023), and frequent appearances on CNBC Africa. In 2020, he was named one of the Top 4 Most Influential Persons in Technology in Africa by Les Echos, the French equivalent of The Financial Times.

 

Zach’s career has spanned both the African investment landscape and the global finance sector. He previously served as Head of Africa Investments for U-Start, Europe’s largest network of private multi-family offices. Before moving to South Africa, he worked as an investment banker on Wall Street, specializing in mergers & acquisitions, corporate finance strategy, and risk management at Lehman Brothers and Barclays Capital in New York.

 

Zach holds a Master’s degree in Finance & Management from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

 

Beyond his professional pursuits, Zach is a talented musician with two cover albums, Give A Little (2010) and Humans with Hearts (2018), available on iTunes and Spotify. He is passionate about theater and the performing arts, enjoys hiking, and plays tennis and squash. Zach is also an avid creative writer and is currently finishing a work of non-fiction.

Sessions

March 13, Thursday
Venue: Innovation City Cape Town  

 

4.15PM – 4.40PM

Investing In The Next Generation of Startups

 

How are investors thinking about the travel startup space? What calculated bets are they taking? And where are the opportunities they see that ought to be grabbed by the new wave of startups?

 

Speakers:

Jeff Pan, CEO & Founder, Belli (Seedup Winner, Asia Pacific category, Global Startup Pitch)

Zachariah George, Managing Partner, Launch Africa Ventures

Lisa Katsouraki, Advisory Board Member, ennea capital partners

Natalie Kolbe, Managing Partner, Norrsken22

 

Moderator:

Fritz Demopoulos, CEO, Queen’s Road Capital