Pan -African VC firm, Ventures Platform, has announced the final close of its early-stage and intercontinental fund at $46 million.
🚀🚀 We have some big news!
It is with great pleasure that we announce the final close of our oversubscribed early-stage pan-African fund, at $46M!https://t.co/VhcK6Wf6EH pic.twitter.com/TE8NUcXVaC
— Ventures Platform Fund (@vp_fund) December 15, 2022
The fund was over-subscribed and surpassed an initial $40M target bringing in a wide array of new investors. The investors include top-tier commercial banks, corporates, DFIs, global institutional investors, and HNIs, including:
- Standard Bank
- International Finance Corporation
- British International Investment
- A-to-Z Impact
- Proparco
Ventures Platform plans to use the fund to double down on some of its investments in ‘category-leading’ companies and will also allow for follow-on investments for portfolio companies, up to Series A, the firm said.
In addition, the firm has established an innovative ‘platform and networks’ practice intended to provide scalable and world-class post-investment support and value creation to its portfolio companies.
Ventures Platform has over 60 investments in companies across the continent, mainly in Nigeria.
Some of the firm’s investees include:
To further consolidate its pan-African reach, Ventures Platform is actively seeking opportunities in regions such as Kenya, Egypt, and French-speaking West Africa. The firm has invested in companies across various verticals and lists healthcare, financial services, agriculture, education, big data, and Internet Infrastructure as key areas.
If you are a mission-driven founder, building a capital-efficient business that democratizes prosperity, plugs infrastructural gaps, connects under-represented communities, creates efficiencies, solves for non-consumption, and improves livelihoods, we would love to talk to you.” – Ventures Platform
Ventures Platform’s portfolio companies have to date gone on to raise more than $1B in follow-on funding, with the firm’s founder and general partner, Kola Aina, positive about more investment opportunities in spite of a challenging economic environment.
“We are also acutely aware that with our investment thesis, which is centered on market-creating innovations that thrive when value chains and markets are restructured, there continue to be incredible opportunities across the market,” Aina said.
Interested parties can apply to the fund here.
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