Silicon Valley is ignoring Africa’s startup scene, passing up an opportunity to invest in creating innovative technology-based businesses on the continent, according to TechCrunch Inc.

“Silicon Valley does not understand the context of Africa, so we see it as an opportunity to fill the gap,” Edward Desmond, chief operating officer at the Verizon Communications Inc. unit, said in an interview Wednesday in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. “The outside world that is very powerful does not know the innovation and possibilities available.”

From Bloomberg. Story by Samuel Gebre.

African startups raised an estimated $129 million in 2016, according to Disrupt Africa, an African startup information portal. China alone attracted $31 billion in venture capital last year, while the U.S. received $69.1 billion, according to KPMG International’s Venture Pulse report.

Desmond was in Kenya for TechCrunch Battlefield Africa, its first startup pitching event on the continent in the competition’s decade-long history. Competitions by the San Francisco-based technology media property company help early stage enterprises with exposure and to find financing from global investors.

Read more at Bloomberg.