It is raining startup funds in Nigeria! Leading global and Pan-African investment companies are betting on Nigeria’s growth prospect. According to a recent Nairalytics report, Nigerian startups raised a total of $1.25 billion through seed and series fundings across 91 deals in 2021. This indicates a very impressive increase by 152% from 2020.
This year, 2022, is already off to a great start as six innovative companies raised a total of N15.6 billion ($31.5 million) in January. This is according to an intelligence report gathered by the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC). Some of the companies that raised funding in January are Bamboo, an app that lets Africans buy and trade US stocks in real-time. Other startups include Drugstoc, a Nigerian e-health pharmaceutical distribution startup, and SeamlessHR, a startup that helps organisations manage most HR processes on one platform.
In most cases, when startups raise investments, the media focuses on the startup, we see press releases with group photos of the team wearing T-shirts with company logo, etc. There is often little attention given to the investors behind these funds. In this article, we are looking at five VCs that have funded some notable startups in Nigeria.
LoftyInc Capital Management
LoftyInc is a pan-African early-stage venture capital based in California, United States. The firm supports innovation and entrepreneurship in Nigeria and the USA. Established in 2017, LoftyInc through its LoftyInc Afropreneur Funds (LAF) supports early-stage ventures In Africa.
From 2017 to 2020, LoftyInc wrote checks worth more than $1.2 million in nine rounds to six Nigerian startups. On August 31, 2021, LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3 was announced and it invested in 25 companies across the continent in e-commerce, fintech, media, logistics, and healthcare sectors. The size of the fund was $10 million for tech startups in Africa with minimum tickets between $50,000–$250,000.
The General Partners, Idris Bello, Marsha Wulff, and Michael Oluwagbemi have worked together for over 12 years investing in Africa and outside Africa.
LoftyInc has invested in some major Nigerian startups including Flutterwave, Printivo, YouVerify and more.
Target Global
Target Global is a pan-European venture capital firm established in 2012 and headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It has interest in all lifecycles of mostly tech companies from early stage to late stage and seed. Target Global has made 164 investments.
Target Global has raised a total of $1.1B across six funds, their latest being Target Global Growth II. This fund was announced on Dec 2, 2020, and raised a total of €300M.
The VC has invested in Nigerian companies such as Kuda bank, Kippa, Cassava, Edukoya and more.
Future Africa
Future Africa is an early-stage venture fund that connects investors to mission-driven founders who are turning Africa’s most difficult challenges into global opportunities. it was established in 2015 by Iyinoluwa Aboyeji and It invests in tech, media, and infrastructure sectors.
In 2021, the firm announced that it had backed 13 startups with $3million in capital, bringing the total number of investments as a fund to 47.
Future Africa has invested in Flutterwave, Jumia, Kobo360, 54gene and more.
Growth Capital
Growth Capital, by CcHUB, is Nigeria’s first social innovation fund aimed at helping startups driving social change in Nigeria to scale. It supports high potential, early-stage business building. Participating investors bring their experience, resources and networks together to work for innovative startups.
Co-creation Hub (CcHUB), founded by Bosun Tijani, is a pre-incubation space designed in 2011 for technologists, social entrepreneurs, government, tech companies, impact investors and hackers to co-create new solutions to the many social problems in Nigeria.
Growth capital has invested in companies such as Taeillo, LifeBank, DrugStoc and more.
TLCom Capital
TLCom capital supports innovative entrepreneurs that leverage technology to find market solutions to significant challenges. The firm is a Lagos-Nairobi-London-based venture capital firm that has been investing in tech and innovation across Europe and the US since 1999. They invest between $500k and $10m dollars in companies. The fund is focused on helping the startups utilising mobile as a platform to solve Africa’s most pressing needs.
Some companies in their portfolio include Andela, autochek, uLesson, ilara health, Terragon, and more.
These VC firms and many more have contributed to the startup space in Nigeria and if you have a great business idea, you can leverage these investment companies to take your business to the next level.
