The Journey: Insights from 4000+ Dream VC Applicants
Since the launch of Dream VC in 2021, the response and interest from across the African ecosystems have been overwhelming, with our team receiving over 4000+ applications over three cohort cycles. This has reaffirmed our staunch commitment to building out the knowledge launchpad needed to catalyze African-focused investment talent and truly shows how much the venture ecosystem has developed with increasing interest from individuals every year.
Let’s take a look behind the scenes, and explore some of the breakdowns we’ve done for the data gathered for our application cycles, with specific deep dives into our 2023 application cycle.
Follow our page to stay updated about the 2024 application insights and more.
Across 2021–2023 Cohorts: General Analysis
Total Applicants Across All Cohorts
In the inaugural launch of the fellowship, the team received just over a thousand applications (1002 applicants to be precise), and this number increased with the renewed interest in the 2022 cohort with 1375 applications for that cycle across both programs.
In 2023, Dream VC saw an explosion of growth in both reach and engagement, which contributed to the substantial increase of applications to 2009 across both programs for this year.
Percentage of Male Applicants vs. Percentage of Female Applicants
For the inaugural cohort, the split in percentage between male applicants to female applicants was 67% to 33%, meaning only a third of the applicants overall in the application pool in 2021 self-identified as female.
For 2022, this ratio actually dipped down, with the percentages gathered as 69% (male applicants) to 31% (female applicants).
For 2023, the overall breakdown bounced back to a similar percentage ratio as the inaugural cohort, with 67% of the application pool self-identifying as male and 33% as female.
Percentage of Male Applicants vs. Percentage of Female Applicants (Launch into VC Program)
With 2022 being the first year that Dream VC introduced the two-program format, there is no data for the Launch into VC program for 2021.
From 2022 to 2023, the percentage of female applicants for Launch into VC increased from 29% to 33%, with the male applicants representing the remaining 71% (in 2022) and 67% (in 2023) percent respectively
Percentage of Male Applicants vs. Percentage of Female Applicants (Investor Accelerator Program)
With 2022 being the first year that Dream VC introduced the two-program format, there is no data for the Investor Accelerator program for 2021.
Unlike Launch into VC, the percentage of female applicants actually decreased from the 2022 application cycle from 37% to 34% for the 2023 application cycle.
The percentage breakdowns for the male applicants across 2022 to 2023 are 63% to 66%, showing a 3% increase from the last cohort to this year.
Breakdown of Applicants for Each Program (By Percentage)
For the 2022 application cycle, approximately 81% of the entire application pool was made up of applicants for the Launch into VC program, with the remaining 19% applying for Investor Accelerator.
For 2023, there was an increase in the percentage of individuals applying for the Investor Accelerator, going up to 22%, and the remaining 78% applying for the Launch into VC program.
Nationalities Breakdown Across Application Cycles
Every year, Dream VC continues to break barriers in creating a diverse community of African-focused investors across the world.
The inaugural cohort in 2021 saw a total of 21 nationalities represented in the application pool, with the number doubling in 2022 to 44 total nationalities.
This year, for the 2023 application cycle, a total of 62 nationalities were represented across the application pool.
After breaking down the nationalities represented, it is interesting to note that out of the 2021 cohort, only 2 non-African nationalities were present, these being Colombia and the United States, with the remaining 19 nationalities being African.
In 2022, the total number of African nationalities jumped to 30 alongside a substantial increase in non-African nationalities as well, which totaled 14 for that application cycle.
For 2023, the nationalities represented soared through the roof — with 38 African nationalities participating in the application cycle and 24 non- African countries as well. These data points are strong proof of Dream VC’s increasing reach across the African continent and globally.
Diaspora Representation Across Application Cycles
Another fascinating data point is the self-identification of diaspora members in each application cycle and which country’s diaspora dominated in terms of the number of applications for each cycle.
For the 2021 application cycle, the amount of diaspora applications was very low compared to Africans who were born, raised, and educated within Africa. However, the diaspora that was represented the most in applications were Nigerians based in the United Kingdom (British-Nigerian), although they self-identified their nationality as Nigerians for the application (hence the data points in the Nationalities Breakdown section).
The 2022 application cycle saw the first substantial wave of interest from the African diaspora across the globe, with the most represented diaspora group interestingly being Cameroonian Americans based in the United States.
The 2023 application cycle saw the representation pendulum swing back to the Nigerian diaspora*, but this time across the pond to the Nigerian Americans in the United States.
*Note: ~20 Nigerian Diaspora identified themselves as Nigerian even if they were born/raised in UK or US for the 2023 Application Cycle.
Raw Data from Numbers of Female Applicants (Across Cohorts & Both Programs)
For the 2021 cohort, 95% of the female applicants were either African or African diaspora, with the remaining 5% being from non-African nationalities.
For the 2022 cycle, the number of non-African female applicants increased considerably to 14%, and the remaining 86% of female applicants were African or African diaspora.
For 2023, the ratio reverted back to a similar reflection as the 2021 cohort, with African and African diaspora female applicants accounting for 96% of the overall female application pool and 4% being non-African.
领英推荐
2023 Application Cycle Insights & Deep Dives
Breakdown of 2023 Applicants by Nationality
As highlighted in the previous sections, the 2023 application cycle was one of the most diverse in terms of reach across Africa and globally.
The total number of African nationalities represented in the 2023 application cycle was 38, and non-African nationalities racking up to 24.
The top countries represented in terms of application numbers were (in order) Nigeria (47.9%), Kenya (13.6%), South Africa (5.4%), and Ghana (4%).
Breakdown of 2023 Applicants (African vs. Non-African)
For the 2023 application cycle, approximately 96% of all applicants identified as African, with around 4% identifying as non-African.
When taking a closer look at how this is dispersed across the two programs, Launch into VC had a slightly higher percentage of African applicants at 97%, and 3% of the applicants were non-African.
For Investor Accelerator, around 95% of the applicants identified as African, with the remaining 5% being non-African.
The African nationalities represented were: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Co?te d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, The Gambia, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
The non-African nationalities represented were: Bangladesh, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, China, Columbia, France, Germany, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Netherlands, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Uruguay, United States.
When looking at the spread of applicants regionally across Africa, the team divided the continent into 5 major regions: West Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, North Africa, and Central Africa.
It is key to note that a majority of the applicants for Dream VC still remain in the West African region, followed by the East African region. Together, these two regions punch well above their weight, accounting for approximately 88% of all applicants to Dream VC’s programs.
Breakdown of Nationalities by Program
Launch into VC
When looking at the breakdown of applicants by region for the Launch into VC program, the top 6 nationalities as self-identified by applicants were: Nigerian (49.1%), Kenyan (13.7%), South African (5%), Ghanaian (3.6%), American (2.4%), and Tanzanian (2.4%).
Together, these nationalities made up approximately 76% of the application pool, just a little over three-quarters of all the applicants.
Investor Accelerator
For the Investor Accelerator, there were slightly larger percentages of representation for specific nationalities, with the top 6 countries represented in this program’s application pool being: Nigerian (38.8%), Kenyan (11.7%), South African (6.2%), American (5.1%), Zimbabwean (5.1%), and Ghanaian (4.8%).
Altogether, the applicants representing these six nationalities accounted for 72% of the total application pool.
Gender Breakdown for 2023 Applicants (Both Programs)
The overall percentage split of male-to-female applicants for the 2023 application cycle was 33% (female applicants) to 67% (male applicants).
When analyzing the breakdown individually for each program, it can be seen that a slightly higher percentage of women applied for the Investor Accelerator (34%) compared to Launch into VC (33%).
TLDR - Key Takeaways
Closing Remarks & Reflections
Firstly, our team would like to express our sincere gratitude to our alumni community, ecosystem partners, media affiliates, and wider network for their tremendous contributions in helping Dream VC reach such incredible heights for the 2023 application cycle.
This application cycle was the largest and most challenging one yet in our multi-stage application process, but the result was us reaching some truly rare talents globally that are super keen on contributing to the African venture space.
As always, the Dream VC team would like to encourage more female applicants + individuals from regions outside of West & East Africa to apply, as we are especially committed to building a robust, inclusive, and diverse community that will be the face of future investors in Africa.
A special note also to individuals who applied to the Dream VC programs and perhaps were unsuccessful — we look upon reapplications very favorably, and in fact, we accepted a fellow this year who had applied every single year since our inaugural cohort and finally made it through for the 2023 application cycle. Your application result is by no means a reflection of your potential and commitment to the African VC space, and we welcome seeing familiar faces again next year for our 2024 cohort!
In conclusion, words fail to express the full depth of thanks for all the individuals who have supported one way or another, whether that is publicly or behind the scenes.
We are just getting started, there’s still much more work to be done in building out the knowledge and support infrastructure for African investors and ecosystem builders. Here’s to the next journey upward!