Enza Capital, an African venture capital firm based in Nairobi, Kenya has closed $58 million across two funds invested in pre-seed, seed and series stages.
According to Founder, Mike Mompi, the firm made 48 investments in 31 companies from both funds across 8 African markets, including:
- Kenya
- Uganda
- Nigeria
- Ghana
- Ivory Coast
- Senegal
- Egypt, and
- South Africa
Among the enterprises invested in include:
- Guidewheel, a Kenyan climate tech startup that has since expanded to the U.S. and Mexico following a Greycroft-led Series A round
- Still in Kenya, the firm has invested in fintech Shara, providing a pre-seed investment to the company
- Kenyan insurtech Turaco from its second fund
According to the Founder Mompi, Enza Capital typically invests check sizes ranging from $250,000 to $5 million in its portfolio companies which includes:
- Autochek
- Jumba
- Craydel
- Cloudline, and
- SeamlessHR
Enza Capital also provides its portfolio companies with the opportunity to access further follow-on investments from Enza Growth Capital, described as an evergreen, later-stage investment vehicle launched by the firm. Enza Growth Capital has the capacity to invest up to $20 million per company, as stated on the firm’s website.
“We have sufficient capital to write meaningful checks. Sometimes, we’re going in early and also follow-on in our companies. Then we have the growth fund, which is mostly a later-stage vehicle, where we can invest at any stage and co-invest with the core funds in existing portfolio companies, thereby staying with our companies for a long time,” said the Managing Partner.
Enza Capital currently has an office in Nairobi, Kenya and its team consists of eight individuals located across various cities, including Nairobi, Johannesburg, London, and New York. The firm is considering the possibility of opening offices in Lagos and a Francophone African city to provide support to its portfolio companies in those markets.
To further support its portfolio companies, Enza Capital plans to employ additional talent across various departments. While the firm has already been providing technical support through its CTO-in-Residence to assist startups with their engineering and tech teams before and after investment, it aims to expand its support to other areas as well.
Enza Capital is also said to be launching its founder partner program, which involves the founders and leadership teams of its portfolio companies becoming co-owners of the firm.
“The founder partner program fosters alignment and collaboration,” said general partner John Lazar.
“And it increases the likelihood of success across all stakeholders in the venture capital structure, ranging from LPs and investors to management teams, and extending to the ultimate beneficiaries of the products or services developed by these enterprises. We truly believe in shared ownership, and we can empathize with leadership teams.”
The limited partners across Enza’s funds include the founding partners and a diverse group of investors, from private individuals, family offices and foundations to fund of funds, hedge funds, and venture capital funds.
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