The Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) has partnered with Azur Partners to launch the Azur Innovation Fund (AIF) to support the Moroccan entrepreneurial ecosystem

DGGF has acquired a €7m stake in AIF.

With an overall size of 350m dirhams (approx. €33m) at the time of the first closing, AIF is the largest seed fund in the history of Morocco.

The investors in the first close included BAD, KFW, CCG, CIH Bank, SAHAM Assurances, BMCE Bank of Africa and MASEN in Morocco.

AIF will invest in equity and quasi-equity in innovative high-impact start-ups to support them in the development of their projects.

With an explicit impact strategy to finance early stage companies and to create jobs including for women and youth, Azur presents overall a strong alignment with DGGF’s objectives.

The fund is expected to finance approximately 20 SMEs, including some owned and managed by young entrepreneurs, and to generate knowledge transfer to these SMEs.

Azur will specifically invest in innovative ‘new economy’ sectors, which are key to the country’s economic diversification, and is expected to bring an important contribution to the development of the local ecosystem of finance opportunities and technical support for early stage companies.

DGGF has played an important role in bringing the fund up to a sustainable fund size.