The last several years have seen a blossoming of tech hubs and innovation centers across the African continent, as we reported earlier. In their wake, the growth of Africa-based venture capital organizations has turned a recognition of innovation into an anticipation of profit.

Tech Crunch's Michael Butcher sketched a picture of the already-existing "accelerator and incubator" ecosystem there.

The latest to join this group is the Savannah Fund. It is noteworthy for its provenance: the three co-founders are Kenya native and , blogger Erik Hersman, founder of Ushahidi, iHub, and many other Africa-based tech projects; Tanzanian entrepreneur and Microsoft alumnus Mbwana Alliy; and Paul Bragiel co-founder and managing partner of i/o Ventures.

The fund is starting with $5 million and will grow to $10 million. The Savannah Fund describes itself as a "seed capital fund specializing in US$25,000-US$500,000 investments in early-stage, high-growth technology (Web and mobile) startups addressing the Sub-Saharan Africa market. Initially focused in East Africa, we aim to bridge the gap in early-stage/angel and venture capital investment that currently exists in Africa."

Hersman wrote in a blog post announcing the launch of the fund that "most of the activity focused on classes of 5 startups at a time being brought on board and invested in. They’ll get $25,000 for 15% equity, and have 3-6 months to prove themselves. Those who fail either pivot or leave, those who gain traction have a chance at follow-on funding. A portion of the fund will be invested at the $100-200k range where we’ll look at follow-on funding for the startups in our program, and also at other high-growth tech companies in the region."

That region includes Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and South Sudan. Mbwana Alliy says East Africa's entrepreneurs "serve a unique market no one else does, and have the potential to scale across Africa."

The fund grew out of a conversation between Hersman and the Soros Fund's Ben Matranga, who lamented the bridge between small but interesting startups and companies of a size the Soros organization funded. The Savannah Fund hopes to be that bridge.

In addition to local investors, such as Mobile Planet's Karanja Macharia, the fund is also being backed by Silicon Valley players, including Yelp's Russ Simmons, Zynga's Dali Kilani, Tim Draper, Dave McClure, and Roger Dickey. This Silicon Valley connection gives the fund not just proven international expertise but it also puts the shine on the apple. Silicon Valley, however limited in reality it may be, is still a globally recognized placeholder for success, talent, and access.

The Savannah Fund is currently accepting applications for its first cohort. Those accepted into the program will be based at Nairobi's iHub.