TLcom Capital to Invest $71M Africa Fund in 12 Startups from Nigeria, Kenya and SA

TLcom Capital, an Africa-focused Venture Capital firm, has concluded plans to invest $71 million in 12 start-ups from Africa through its Tide Africa Fund over the next 18 months.

The funds were raised in an investment round led by TLcom, with participation from UK based CDC, IFC as well as South Africa’s Sango Capital and Belgium’s BIO.

According to Managing Partner at TLcom, Maurizio Caio, the firm is looking to invest in tech-enabled, revenue driven ventures in Africa from seed-stage to Series B.

Since the inception of the TIDE (Technology and Innovation for Developing Economies) Africa Fund in 2017, TLcom has invested in 6 startups in Sub Saharan Africa including Nigeria’s Andela, Kobo360 and Ulessons.

With the new $71 million funds, TLcom Capital plans to focus primarily on startups in Africa’s big-three tech hubs: Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. The firm is also considering rising markets, such as Ethiopia.

The VC has its office in Nigeria. Also, one of its Senior Partners, Dr Omobola Johnson is based in Nigeria. This provides Nigerian startups with the needed proximity to get themselves on the radar so that they can benefit from the funds.

However, Ciao has revealed that the firm is looking to invest in more infrastructure type companies rather than commodified startups like consumer lending

“We’re rather a sector agnostic, but right now we are looking at companies that are more infrastructure type tech rather than super commoditized things like consumer lending,”

Managing Partner of TLcom, Maurizio Caio

He also added that some of the funds will be used to support viable startups with strong founders.

Over the last year, investment rounds led or co-led by TIDE Africa have raised over $150mn for African startups. The VC also won the Africa Technology Investor of the Year award at the 2019 PE Africa Awards.

The firm’s $71 million Tide Africa Fund comes after a year of high exponential investment in startups on the continent. According to the report released by Partech, Africa focused VC funding raised over $2 billion in 2019.

Raising such a huge sum for TLcom Capital Tide Africa marks a strong start in funding for African startups this year. For startups interested in Tide Africa Fund, Caio has encouraged founders with an interesting value proposition to contact one of the fund’s partners.