Ventures Platform, which is based in Abuja and Lagos, has announced the first closing of its $40 million pan-African fund. Kola Aina, one of Nigeria’s most prominent early-stage investors, launched the fund, which has made 69 investments since 2016.

The size of the first closing of Ventures Platform’s first institutional fund isn’t disclosed, but Aina says it’s “a sizable amount.” Surprisingly, the majority of the limited partners (LPs) involved are Nigerian and African-based, indicating that local investors’ capacity to fund the region’s most innovative enterprises is growing.

Shola Akinlade, the CEO of Paystack, is one of the firm’s individual LPs, along with Gbenga Oyebode. Organizations including the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), UAC Nigeria (for the first time allocating to a VC), and VFD Group are also interested, as are international investors like Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel and Adam Draper.

“We’re proud that for this first close, a large part of our capital came from local funding. I gave a TED Talk titled ‘who would own our future unicorns’ and I’m so proud of this because it seems Africans are answering loud and clear that we would own them too. So this was a nice mix of Nigerian corporates, family offices, institutions, as well as global investors.”

According to Aina, Ventures Platform was intentional about wanting local capital in this fund.

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“For us, it was strategic, getting local capital for our first close. But the second close, as you will see, will be from global fund of funds and DFIs where we’ve got commitments. Still, ultimately, as much as foreign capital is critical, I think it’s in the interest of foreign capital to be in bed with local capital from a derisking standpoint,” he said. 

The Ventures Platform considers itself to be a thesis-driven fund. The fund’s concept, according to Aina, is to invest market-creating innovations that address non-consumption and develop inventive new ways to offer goods and services to low-income markets. Fintech, edtech, agritech and food science, healthtech and bioscience, enterprise SaaS, and digital infrastructure are the firm’s six primary verticals.

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The pan-African firm couldn’t take on follow-on rounds in its portfolio companies, which include Tiger-backed Mono, SeamlessHR, PayHippo, and Migo, because it relied on syndicate and proprietary capital funds in the early phases of its lifecycle.

These companies have raised more than $500 million in follow-on rounds, and Aina says his business is eager to participate now that it has achieved the fund’s first closure.

“We have a pretty robust pipeline of companies that we’ll be looking at across the continent, as well as our portfolio companies that have raised new rounds of financing. We’re looking for interesting companies that fit our thesis and what’s compelling now is that we have a follow on capital to fund them,” he said.

With an average check size of $50,000, Ventures Platform largely focused on pre-seed and seed funding. However, Ventures Platform will be able to engage in Series A deals, where it will be able to invest more than $1 million in a single firm, thanks to this new fund (including follow-on rounds).

Outside of Nigeria, the Abuja-based venture capital firm is expanding its operations, with investments in Kenya’s MarketForce and Tambua Health, Zambia’s Union54, and Egypt’s MoneyHash, to name a few. The company intends to spend further in these areas, as well as Francophone Africa.

“I think every fund has its strategy. Ultimately, because of the stage at which we invest, a key part of our strategy is to fund a large batch of companies at the pre-seed stage, and what you see is that the funnel would narrow as time goes on. With this new fund, we now can double down on our winners, which is good for the companies and also good for us at the point of exit.”

According to Aina, Ventures Platform’s function as a “early-stage discovery fund” entails discovering many startups to back early and investing in subsequent rounds of a handful.

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Ventures Platform said it would onboard well-known figures across African tech as venture partners as part of a move to deepen its expertise further. The first and only disclosed partner for now is Seni Sulyman, the former vice president of global operations at Andela and CEO of BlackOps, a talent marketplace for African venture builders and operators.

As part of a move to broaden its expertise, Ventures Platform announced that it would bring on board well-known figures in African innovation as venture partners. Seni Sulyman, the former vice president of global operations at Andela and the CEO of BlackOps, a talent marketplace for African enterprise builders and operators, is the first and only announced partner for the time being.

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer