Purple Elephant Ventures, a Kenyan Venture Studio Focused on Tourism, has Increased Its Seed Funding Round to $5 Million

Purple Elephant Ventures (PEV), a Nairobi-based venture studio focused on tourism, has successfully increased its seed funding round to $5 million. This milestone was possible after securing an extra $500,000 investment from Alphatron, the Dutch family office at Alphatron Group. The additional funding comes on the back of $4.5 million raised in January, which is a good boost for PEV’s overall mission of transforming tourism in Africa.

Purple Elephant Ventures is founded by Ben Peterson, Jan Van der de Willebois, and Mikul Shah. Due to the experience with scaled businesses. They will work closely with LPs and VCs to understand the problems they have faced which will ultimately create immense value. The extra money helps PEV expand their operations in Africa at a time when the continent could use more of this.

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Alphatron’s additional investment highlights growing confidence in PEV’s regenerative tourism vision. Ben Peterson, PEV co-founder and CEO, said the investment fits PEV’s purpose of leveraging technology to create a greener and fairer tourism industry. Likewise, Alphatron Group Director Floris de Kort praised PEV for their innovation and commitment to sustainable technology, an element much aligned to Alphatron’s offering.

Since inception, Purple Elephant Ventures has had three more startups on the way. The company is known for launching five impactful startups, namely, travel discovery platform Nomad Africa; Kijani Supplies, which offers sustainable hospitality products; Zafari, booking software for hospitality businesses in Africa; PowerTrip, which provides energy efficient solutions for hotels, and JOIN Africa, which aids safari guides. PEV, unlike traditional venture studios, retains control of and self-funds its startups to maintain alignment with its long-term mission.

The journey toward securing this $5 million seed funding began in October 2022 when PEV raised $1 million in a pre-seed round. The subsequent $4.5 million seed round which happened earlier this year saw participation from notable investors like Clear Creek Investment B.V., Klister Corp., Fede Pirzo-Biroli (founder of Playfair Capital), Anthony Rock and Ian McCaig (ex-CEO of Lastminute.com).

The new financing from Alphatron can help enhance PEV’s operational capacity and business model adjustments in existing ventures and new business launches aimed at solving critical issues in African tourism. The plan involves upgrading digital systems to make things work smoother and greener. The goal of Purple Elephant Ventures is to come up with scalable and different tech solutions to make Africa’s tourism sector climate change resilient while also boosting economic growth.

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Purple Elephant Ventures increasing its seed funding round to $5 million is an important moment for the tourism-tech ecosystem of Africa. Now that it has $5 million, PEV will make a decisive move towards effective solutions that are eco-sensitive and which positively affect local communities. This accomplishment reveals the untapped potential of the tourism industry in Africa and lays a robust framework for future innovation.

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