This Pan-African VC firm closes $46 million to lead pre-seed and seed rounds
Ventures Platform, a Pan-African early-stage venture capital firm, has announced the closing of its fund at $46 million, as the VC firm looks to invest in "category-leading" companies across Africa. The six-year-old firm initially aimed to raise $40 million for this fund and reached an undisclosed first close
Ventures Platform, a Pan-African early-stage venture capital firm, has announced the closing of its fund at $46 million, as the VC firm looks to invest in "category-leading" companies across Africa.
The six-year-old firm initially aimed to raise $40 million for this fund and reached an undisclosed first close in December of last year. Most of its limited partners in the first close were African-based, a strategic move according to founder and general partner Kola Aina.
Since its inception in 2016, Ventures Platform has made over 60 investments across a range of sectors, including fintech, insurtech, health tech, and more – with its portfolio companies raising more than $1 billion in follow-on funding to date, according to the company.
Many of these investments have been made at the pre-seed and seed stages, but the company has recently begun making Series A investments in some of its portfolio companies. The firm plans to lead pre-seed and seed rounds, investing an average of $250,000 and participating in and writing follow-in checks of more than $1 million at Series A rounds.
Standard Bank, the largest bank by assets in Africa, is among the fund's new limited partners, along with four development finance institutions: the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the British International Investment (BII), Proparco with FISEA, and AfricaGrow, a fund of funds managed by Allianz Global Investors.
Other limited partners include social impact firm A to Z Impact, corporates, commercial banks, global institutional investors and high net-worth individuals (HNIs).
