A Path Forward

A Path Forward
Photo by Annie Spratt / Unsplash

Globally, we’re in a very precarious situation as a result of coronavirus. We’ve seen our first true global pandemic and it’s changed so many assumptions, behaviors, and beliefs we’ve held about how we navigate and operate in our world. While others are figuring out how they are going to operate in the new normal, at tiphub, we believe that times like this further validate some of our key beliefs and executing on our thesis is more important than ever.

We believe we’re in a very good position when compared to our competitors. While we were in the process of raising capital, we’re currently partner funded. We have the luxury of time and experience where our competitors have to start making hard decisions about how they are going to manage lp defaults, whether to capitalize companies affected by COVID - 19, and how they are going to adjust to a more remote reality.

While many of our competitors focused on trendy opportunities and following the industry du jour, we’ve been investing and building fundamental solutions tailored to key problems. We understand the biggest opportunities are at basic needs and we’ve focused on investing in companies that provide jobs, improve health, increased access to education, and enhance the ability for people and businesses to work together. In this new world, we’re about to enter, we'll need these solutions more than ever to ensure we come out in a better position when the worst of coronavirus is over.

What does that mean tangibly? On a high level, here’s what it means for the team at tiphub:

  1. We’re going to double down on supporting the companies in our portfolio. This means, dedicating the majority of our time to working, raising capital, and advising companies we’ve already invested in.
  2. For now, we’re going to put a pause on fundraising for our inaugural fund. As emerging fund managers, we don’t have an advantageous position in a capital-constrained market. We’ll still take casual conversations but we’re going to solely focus on growing value with companies in our family.
  3. We’ll also spend a significant amount of time doubling down on our differentiators. We’re in the process of launching our founders’ community platform and developing a more cohesive community with organizations, investors, and larger companies in Africa.

For companies in our portfolio or in our larger tiphub tribe, if you’re reading this, please know you’re not alone at this moment, we’re all in this together. To organizations and established companies, we’ve worked with in the past, let us know how we can support you through this challenging time.

Our path forward is together.