42Markets Group, the financial and capital markets fintech incubator and investment group, has secured R182 million ($10m) in growth funding from Convergence Partners, a leading private equity investor dedicated to the technology sector across sub-Saharan Africa, after it recently closed its Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund (CPDIF) at $296 million.

According to the official news, the fresh capital will support 42Markets in accelerating the development and expansion of its portfolio companies – Mesh (NL, Mesh.trade), Andile (UK, andile.net) and FXFlow (SA, fxflow.co), with the bulk of the raise being deployed in Mesh.trade.

Mesh.trade was founded to make the financial markets more accessible for all, it has built a multi-sided platform which makes it easier and more effective to raise capital and invest in the Capital Markets. Mesh.trade lets market participants issue, tokenise, trade, settle, and lifecycle manage multiple classes of digital securities at a fraction of the time and cost taken by market intermediaries in the traditional capital markets. Netherlands-based Mesh launched in South Africa just under a year ago and is already receiving strong validation for its business model, in an industry that needs a responsible player.

Connie Bloem, the Managing Director of Mesh, co-founded the company in 2019 with Andries Brink, the CEO of 42Markets Group. Bloem stated that the recent injection of capital will aid Mesh in its next phase of growth, which involves expanding the reach of South African operations, investing in regulatory compliance, and launching its next operating company in the EU. Bloem expressed excitement that the investment would permit Mesh to encourage more companies and individuals to join their movement, which aims to increase access to financial markets for all.

About Mesh.trade

Mesh has built an institution-grade, decentralised, multi-sided financial markets platform, that bridges the gap between TradFi, (the traditional world of Financial and Capital Markets), AltFi, (alternative finance, a range of traditionally illiquid financial assets and investment instruments) and DeFi, (the new world of Distributed Ledger Technology and Tokenomics), making it easier and more efficient to raise capital and invest in the Capital Markets. Mesh was founded to make the financial and capital markets more accessible to all. 

About Convergence Partners

Convergence Partners is a leading private equity investment manager focused on the technology sector in sub-Saharan Africa, with a 20-year history of investing successfully in digital infrastructure in the region. With more than US$600 million under management, including the recently launched Convergence Partners Digital Infrastructure Fund, which is focused on long term investments in data centres, fibre networks, wireless and towers, edge, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Thing (IoT), cloud and fintech and platforms across the Continent. Convergence Partners’ team is located in offices in South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius and soon Kenya.

About 42Markets Group

42Markets is an incubator of specialist Fintech businesses that have deep expertise in financial and capital markets, with the ultimate objective of making markets simpler, smarter and more accessible. Focusing on financially sustainable and transformational businesses, the Group builds exponential shareholder value by identifying scalable business opportunities in specialist financial and capital markets categories and then uses the Group’s global reach and industry credibility to take these propositions to market.