Ventures Platform, One Of Africa’s Most Active Early-stage Investors, Has Raised Another $64 Million

Lagos-based Ventures Platform, 1 of Africa’s astir progressive early-stage investors, has raised $64 cardinal truthful acold for its 2nd fund, targeting a last adjacent of $75 million, founding partner Kola Aina tells TechCrunch.

Among nan investors is nan Nigerian government, done its Investment successful Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) program, which marks nan first clip this authorities has invested successful a VC fund. That’s significant, since Nigeria’s burgeoning startup organization is location to nan largest number of startup unicorns connected nan continent.

Other constricted partners successful Ventures Platform’s 2nd money see IFC, British International Investment (BII), Proparco, Standard Bank, MSMEDA, and AfricaGrow, on pinch European family offices specified arsenic Alder Tree Investment and salient world backers for illustration erstwhile Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel. Aina says 70% of nan investors from its previous fund returned.

Nigeria choosing this patient for a debut finance is possibly not surprising. Since its founding successful 2016, Ventures Platform has built a estimation for spotting breakout startups successful nan state early, thing it hopes to replicate successful different African markets.

Ventures Platform launched its first organization fund, a $46 cardinal vehicle, successful 2022 to attraction chiefly connected pre-seed and seed rounds.

With nan 2nd fund, nan patient will besides prosecute Series A investing, while “investing pinch much conviction” and seeking larger ownership stakes, Aina said. This should beryllium bully news for nan region’s founders, arsenic Series A backing has go harder to get aft years of pullback from Silicon Valley firms.

While Ventures Platform plans to deepen its beingness successful Nigeria, nan patient has begun establishing a beingness successful Francophone West Africa and North Africa, regions wherever it has already made a fewer investments, to summation earlier entree to promising deals.

So far, nan pan-African task superior patient has funded complete 90 startups crossed nan continent. Most of these investments, nan patient says, are “painkiller” businesses crossed fintech, healthtech, agritech, edtech, and AI—companies that lick for non-consumption, aliases successful simpler terms, service markets wherever group person small to nary entree to a service.

Aina points to portfolio companies Visa-backed unicorn Moniepoint and Stripe-owned Paystack, 2 fintechs that unlocked caller markets for online payments and mini business banking.

“Many mini businesses couldn’t waste beyond their contiguous vicinity earlier Paystack because they couldn’t judge online payments,” he said. “Moniepoint, connected nan different hand, has driven financial inclusion to nan nooks and crannies of this country. That’s marketplace creating innovation.”

Other notable portfolio companies see Left Lane-backed remittance app LemFi, Gates Foundation-backed SeamlessHR, Norfund-backed OmniRetail, QED-backed fintech Raenest, and healthtech Remedial Health.

Even arsenic invention accelerates and backing successful Africa’s tech ecosystem has surpassed $12 cardinal since 2015, stakeholders are voicing caller concerns astir nan shortage of exits and liquidity events. That reality has made fundraising harder for galore of nan continent’s VCs, astir of them emerging managers who, arsenic a corporate globally, person faced a reliable ambiance complete nan past 2 years.

Ventures Platform, however, successful that time, managed to pull some section and world LPs for 2 costs contempt nan marketplace uncertainty.

“We person LPs who understand really task ecosystems successful different markets person developed and cognize we’ll get location successful nan agelong term. Another logic is that we’ve recycled superior from our anterior syndicates,” Aina said, referring to nan patient returning 4 retired of its six vintages (including 5 angel syndicates) betwixt 2016 and 2022. The investor besides claims that nan first money ranks among nan apical performers globally based connected TVPI and IRR for its vintage year.

Still addressing questions astir exits arsenic good arsenic nan continent’s backing slowdown (from $5 cardinal successful 2021 to $2 cardinal past year), Aina adds that Africa’s semipermanent imaginable hasn’t waned and describes nan continent arsenic nan “purest asymmetric play for non-consensus alpha”—venture-speak for high-risk, high-upside bets.

“If you’re a world superior allocator looking for existent diversification, Africa is nan place,” he said. “By 2050, 1 successful 4 humans will beryllium African. Our GDP maturation complaint is double that of nan U.S., and yet astir of nan worth is still offline. The opportunity is immense if you person nan patience and nan section context.”