TLcom Capital, an Africa-focused venture capital firm, has announced a first closure of US $70 million for its US $150 million tech fund, solidifying its position as the continent’s largest independent VC firm.
TLcom, which was founded in 1999 and has offices in Lagos, Nairobi, and London, manages US $350 million in assets across Africa and Europe, and announced the closing of the $71 million TIDE Africa Fund in February 2020, which is dedicated to technology and innovation for Sub-Saharan Africa at all stages of venture capital.
Twiga Foods, Andela, uLesson, and Kobo360 are among the TLcom portfolio’s successful exits, which include Upstream’s acquisition by Actis and Movirtu’s acquisition by BlackBerry. The TIDE Africa Fund provides financing to entrepreneurs as part of a larger strategic, operational, and financial support package.
With the first close in line with the total size of its TIDE Africa Fund, which closed in 2020, TLcom’s second fund includes participation from Allianz, the world’s largest insurance company, through AfricaGrow, its joint venture with DEG Impact (German Investment Corporation), as well as a number of new and returning investors, including Bertelsmann, King Philanthropies, the TLcom team, and FBNQuest. CDC Group, IFC, Proparco, and Swedfund are among the major DFIs represented. The fund will be closed for a second time.
TLcom’s new fund will expand its existing focus on fast-growing, tech-enabled African startups to Egypt, while also bolstering its long-standing footprint in East and West Africa. TLcom aims to add an additional 20 early-stage firms to its portfolio, with a focus on seed and Series A, with ticket sizes ranging from US $500,000 to US $15 million.
It will target entrepreneurs working on some of Africa’s most difficult problems, including fintech, mobility, agribusiness, healthcare, education, and e-commerce.
“Since the closing of our previous fund, African tech has secured more high-value financing rounds, exits and M&As than ever before and this is only just the beginning. It is becoming increasingly evident that our sector has broken into a new era of maturity driven by very strong business fundamentals that African founders are demonstrating not only in the fintech space but across a huge number of the continent’s largely underserved markets,” said Maurizio Caio, founder and managing partner at TLcom.
“As we partner with some of the world’s leading global investors for our new fund, this is not only an endorsement of the massive value generation upside on the continent but also of our proven track record in identifying and supporting entrepreneurs successfully winning and redefining Africa’s key verticals. In order to contribute to unlocking the next phase of Africa’s huge economic upside, we’ll be mobilizing our new fund to strengthen our partnership with African founders, with a special emphasis on female entrepreneurs, as well as our role as the leading local partner of choice for global VCs increasingly looking at Africa.”
