One of Africa’s most active investors, with early bets like Flutterwave,,,,, Andraand Sea waveshas acquired new capital to invest in startups across the continent. This is due to the fact that the transactions and volume of funds in Africa only fell slightly last year. Report VC company Parttech.
Loftyinc CapitalFor more than a decade, the startup, which is primarily supported in the pre-planting and seed stages, has reached the first closure of its third fund, Loftyinc Alpha, for $43 million.
Unlike earlier focus, the fund will target post-seed and Series A startups while retaining its geographical focus in Nigeria, Egypt, Kenya and French-speaking Africa, Founder and Executive Partner Idris Ayo Bello Tell TechCrunch.
The first closure attracted a wide variety of limited partners, including sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East and Africa, such as MSMEDA in Egypt and Anava Foundation in Tunisia. Development finance institutions such as FMO, Proparco (Fisea), Africarow, IFC and the first closure partners in the United States also attended the meetings with the African High Net Worth Individual (HNIS) and European Home Offices.
Bello launched Loftyinc’s first investment vehicle in 2012, and he is one of the few investors who have witnessed the evolution of African technology. From the diversification of startups outside of Fintech, the rise of technical talent to the unicorn boom in 2021 and the current slowdown in funding, his company supports startups through various stages.
Operated by Angel Network, the pre-installed vehicle has since grown into a self-sustaining community with more than 250 investors in Africa and diaspora, laying the foundation for Loftyinc’s first structured risk fund five years later.
In 2017, the Lagos-based venture capital firm increased its first institutional fund by $1.1 million, from HNIS alone, and was fully deployed in Nigeria. Bello, with Marsha Wulff and Michael OluwagbemiIt offers investors 5.7x DPI (cash returns), which is driven by exports and secondary by Flutterwave and General Atlantic Bast Bask Bask Health Tech startups Depend on health.
By 2021, Loftyinc launched its second VC fund, initially Target $10 million But the closing price was $14.2 million. The second fund expanded the market scope outside Nigeria and took a pan-African approach to investing in startups in Egypt, South Africa and French-speaking Africa, Loftyinc aims to stay active.
Among its investors, Through its NPE teammarking the technology giant’s first and only investment in African venture capital.
Bridging Seeds and Series A gap
With its third fund, Loftyinc is refining its investment strategy to address major challenges in Africa’s startup ecosystem: low graduation rates from pre-streaming to Series A.
Bello noted that while Loftyinc’s Angel Network and Micro Fund helped cover pre-planting and seed rounds, the real funding gap is still in the late stages, with startups requiring structured support to expand and secure Series A capital.
“There is a lot of hype when it comes to pre-seeds and seeds, but according to Series A, the questions raised by investors are very different,” he said. “Our goal is to get into seeds, but our mission is to help you get into Series A. We want to be the company of that company.”
Positioning startups for the Series A Tour, planning to follow up investments and introduce co-investors, will also strengthen the pipeline for Africa’s top investors and Africa’s top investors in the growth stage. TLCOM Capital,,,,, Parttechand Norrsken22.
Bello said Loftyinc leverages the operational expertise and network of its partners to distinguish itself in Africa’s crowded early-stage investment market. The company has more than 200 investments and 14 exits, believing that the company provides more than just capital, but also provides market access, business development support and investor docking to its portfolio companies.
Loftyinc has expanded its leadership team with its latest fund to keep up with its growing strategy and growing portfolio, an important move in regional expertise and execution as it invests in startups that require localization support.
Over the past two years, the company has added Mariam Kamel and Kevin Simmons as general partners. They will use investment banking, angel investment and operational venture capital experience in the Middle East and Africa to help the company deepen its operations in the eastern, northern and French-speaking regions of Africa (with at least 30% of the funds deployed).
“They bring experience with funds and investors, which is related to our geographical expansion and exit plans,” Bello said. He added that Oluwagbemi and Wulff will continue to manage Loftyinc’s previous funding while supporting the transition to this larger, more structured fund.
Loftyinc Alpha said it was a support for innovation that drives Africa’s “everyday economy”. Most of these will revolve around financial services, which remains the most dominant sector in Africa’s technology, accounting for 60% of the sector More than $2 billion in equity transactions Startups established last year; logistics and transportation; sanitation technology; retail; climate; and deep technology and AI, which are used in other sectors’ driving forces.
The company’s portfolio covers well-known startups, including Uber-backed vehicle financing platforms MoffRobinhood Style Trading App in Egypt thndrand African B2B e-commerce platform All-end.
