WeChat Africa has announced plans to invest R50m in technology start-ups in Africa “to support local entrepreneurs and technology innovations”.

WeChat, which is developed by Tencent — in which South Africa’s Naspers holds a one-third stake — has said it will identify promising tech start-ups via an application and selection process and support their entry to market using the WeChat platform.

Technology strategy practice Batstone has been appointed by WeChat Africa to source and coordinate early-stage investment opportunities among tech start-ups in Africa.

“Our fund aims to provide financial support to businesses so that they can effectively get on the WeChat platform,” said WeChat Africa Brett Loubser in a statement. “This will include technical integration and communications tactics across the Naspers stable and other suited channels.”

According to Loubser, WeChat’s growth strategy has increasingly focused on integrating its platform with early-stage businesses. It has also worked with start-ups such as Money4Jam, PicUp and OrderIn. The WeChat platform, he said, provides start-ups with easier access to a national audience.

This programme will focus on finding businesses that have “initial market validation” and a “viable product and could clearly benefit from WeChat’s technology platform and the accompanying access to potential consumers”.

In addition to identifying potential partners for WeChat Africa, Batstone Ventures, which is headed by Alexandra Fraser, will provide consulting services to support the start-ups through their growth phase and entry to the market.

“Our experience in the past two years has demonstrated that many companies have huge potential but are unable to communicate what they do clearly,” said Fraser.

“We don’t want to miss the chance to work with smart businesses just because they can’t succinctly tell us what they can do in an online form, so our process will include a face-to-face workshop element to mitigate this risk.”