First close of $40 M pan-African fund secured by Nigeria’s Ventures Platform
The Ventures Platform, located in Nigeria, is one of Africa’s most active early-stage digital investors, and it has announced the first close of a $40 million pan-African fund that will extend its portfolio and double down on winners.
Since its inception in 2016, Ventures Platform has served as a partner and conduit for foreign investors and stakeholders looking to do business in Africa with a dependable and experienced partner. Seamless HR, Piggy Vest, Mono, and Paystack are among the 69 businesses in the firm’s portfolio, and the firm has made a total of 28 investments in 2021 alone.
Its new $40 million fund would invest in “market-creating technologies,” with the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) heading the first close, which included participation from current investors as well as some new big names from Africa’s business and tech sectors.
UAC Nigeria, VFD Group, Gbenga Oyebode, Shola Akinlade of Paystack are among them, as as worldwide investors such as Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel and Adam Draper.
The fund’s most recent capital infusion also puts it in a strong position to expand on current investments in its category-leading portfolio in future rounds. A second closing of the fund is planned for early 2022, with participation from a limited group of global institutional investors and development finance institutions.
“Over the last six years, we’ve backed close to 70 of Africa’s most compelling tech companies, building a robust portfolio which has featured one of the largest exits our sector witnessed to date through Paystack last year. As the incredible momentum in African tech continues to build, it’s attracting unprecedented attention globally amongst traditional and institutional investors, and we’re delighted to welcome aboard some world-class, strategic stakeholders to our fund,” said Kola Aina, founder and general partner at Ventures Platform.
“As operators ourselves, we know what it takes to build a successful business on the continent, and we’ve spent years partnering with visionary founders effectively tackling some of Africa’s hardest problems – now is the time to go even further. We’re fully maximising our deep expertise navigating the nuances of the African market, and as we move ahead, we’re developing a global network of LPs in more established markets like Europe, the United States (US) and Asia, many of whom partner with us due to our track record of backing winners, and they appreciate our on-the-ground experience and access to opportunities, which is vital for generating returns.”
Ventures Platform is now positioned to finance follow-on rounds of successful entrepreneurs generating market-creating ideas across pre-seed, seed, and Series A stages in areas such as fintech, e-health, enterprise SAAS, digital infrastructure, and more, with a ticket size of up to US$1 million. Seni Sulyman, ex-VP at Andela, ex-COO at Bellhop, and creator of Black Ops, has joined the company as a Venture Partner as part of an effort to further broaden its expertise.
