Janade Du Plessis

"Successfully scaling over 100 early-stage startups across the African continent." Janade du Plessis is a 5-times Fund Manager, currently the Managing Partner of Launch Africa Ventures (the most prominent and active venture capital fund in Africa). Over the past 3-years, Launch Africa as invested in 150+ companies in 23 African countries. He is the co-founder and advisor at Five35 Ventures (a leading Pan-African female-focused VC fund in Africa). He has previously started and managed a corporate VC fund for a listed African investment bank, an female-focused Pan-African SME fund, as well as an impact fund called Abrazo Capital. He has invested in over 250+ technology start-ups in Africa. Janade’s background is as an entrepreneur (built and sold two businesses), investment banker and human behavioural researcher with M&A, Management Consulting and Development Finance experience. To date, Janade has travelled to 50 of the 54 African countries. He is an Executive Coach with the International Coaching Federation. Janade holds Master’s degrees in Finance, Economics, Pyschology and Business Administration and currently conducting an extensive research study understanding the psychographic archetypes of African entrepreneurs.