Tlcom - Afrikan Heroes

TLcom Capital Expands Into Egypt

July 5, 2022

TLcom Capital, the Africa-focused VC firm which has been active in parts of the continent has expanded its deal flow generation into the pre-seed area while also starting to target Egyptian ventures.

The VC which was founded in 1999 and with offices in Lagos, Nairobi and London, has US$350 million of assets under management across Africa and Europe, and in January 2022 announced the first close of its US$150 million TIDE Africa Fund II.

The TLcom portfolio includes Twiga Foods, Andela, uLesson, and Kobo360, among others, and it has completed two exits. It is now expanding its capabilities as it ramps up deployment of its new fund, and with that in mind has taken on Eloho Omame as a fifth partner.

Eloho Omame co-founder and general partner at FirstCheck Africa

Omame is co-founder and general partner at FirstCheck Africa, a female-focused early-stage venture capital firm that has to-date invested in 10 high-growth tech startups with a female founder or co-founder. She will combine her new role at TLcom with her existing responsibilities at FirstCheck Africa, which with TLcom to support the launch of FirstCheck Africa’s US$10 million debut fund with a US$2 million co-investment commitment from TIDE Africa Fund II.

TLcom said Omame would bring more senior capacity to its high-touch approach with entrepreneurs and support deal flow generation at the pre-seed stage, as the firm doubled down on its commitment to Africa’s thriving tech opportunity. There will be even greater emphasis on attracting more female-led companies into TLcom’s portfolio.

Her track record in early-stage investing will “prove vital” as TLcom expands its current portfolio from 13 companies to 30. With TLcom widening the range of its core ticket sizes to US$500,000 – US$15 million, the firm will continue to primarily target seed to Series B founders that are tackling some of the continent’s most complex challenges in sectors including fintech, mobility, agriculture, healthcare, education and ecommerce. Geographically, TLcom will expand its traditional focus on East and West Africa to include North Africa, starting with Egypt.

“With the launch of our new fund, we are more committed than ever to Africa. As we partner with more entrepreneurs, it is vital that we are able to maintain our existing level of high-quality, on-the-ground strategic support to unlock the full value-generation potential of these companies. With our portfolio companies, and our investors, we are building for the long term and fully focused on the upside of the tech sector,” said Maurizio Caio, founder and managing partner at TLcom.

“We are especially proud to strengthen our team with a partner of Eloho’s calibre – a seasoned investor who mirrors our founder-first ethos, and will play a critical role in enabling us to deepen our commitment to the founder journey in Africa through her early-stage experience. Equally, her expertise will prove invaluable in strengthening our existing support for female entrepreneurs. We look forward to working with Eloho to drive the next phase of our mission to transform Africa’s key verticals through tech-enabled solutions.”

Omame said it was an honour to join “one of the most prestigious investors in African tech”.

“TLcom has seen the benefits of an early-stage approach through the success of both new and repeat founders in TIDE Africa Fund I. As we deploy capital from TIDE Africa Fund II, it’s crucial that we continue to win the race to find the continent’s best entrepreneurs and support their companies to scale,” she said.

“The firm has always demonstrated its commitment to Africa and to the development of its startup ecosystem. It’s exciting to be in a position of mission-alignment with respect to female founders and I’m thrilled to step up the important work we’ve started at FirstCheck Africa with this incredible show of support from an established, high-calibre fund like TLcom.”

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Three Reasons Why TLcom Capital Invested In Nigerian Startup uLesson

November 30, 2019

Barely a few months into its founding, Nigerian startup uLesson, founded by serial entrepreneur and founder of Konga Sim Shagaya has raised a $3.1 million seed round led by TLcom Capital. uLesson is integrating mobile platforms, SD cards, culture-specific curriculum and a network of tutors to bridge educational gaps for secondary school students in Nigeria and broader Africa.

‘‘We have this massive gap…We’re adding more babies in this country nominally than all of Western Europe…Even if the [Nigerian] government was super efficient, it couldn’t catch up with the educational needs of the young people that are coming up,” Shagaya said.

This round of financing which was led by TLcom Capital also saw, as part of TLcom’s lead on the investment, partners Omobola Johnson and Ido Sum joining uLesson’s board. uLesson which has been in development phase, also plans to go to market in February 2020 in Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Gambia.

On why the new investments by TLcom were made, partner Ido Sum disclosed in an interview that TLcom was guided by three key questions:

“Is this a good market?”
“Is this the right company?” and;
“Is this a good investment.”

“TLcom’s general investment thesis for Africa is that given the high penetration of mobile, there are very large markets where demand is already proven and technology can play a true role in offering a superior value proposition over existing solutions,” Sum said.

“While education ranks high on both criteria, we struggled to find compelling solutions and teams that combine an ambitious vision, a deep understanding of the pain points and what people are willing to pay for, and a proven execution capacity.”

In uLesson, Sum said TLcom had found a company that ticks all the boxes.

“Having known Sim for years, and his commitment to win when he picks a challenge, it was clear that in uLesson he found a true passion,” said Sum.

“The team spent a year refining “go to market” strategies to beat African challenges such as high cost of data, streaming instability, and issues with monthly payments. In parallel, they started building a world class content library, based out of Jos, Nigeria’s historical media capital, with lots of high quality talent.”

Despite being at a very early stage, uLesson has already thought through many fundamental questions, from a distinct content distribution strategy, to how to attract early users by building trust but also securing the collection of payments from day one.

“Of course we face early-stage risks, but we are excited to partner with the uLesson team with open minds and open eyes, ready to tackle and overcome the challenges ahead,” Sum said.

Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based Lawyer with special focus on Business Law, Intellectual Property Rights, Entertainment and Technology Law. He is also an award-winning writer. Working for notable organizations so far has exposed him to some of industry best practices in business, finance strategies, law, dispute resolution, and data analytics both in Nigeria and across the world