TLcom Capital, the Africa-focused venture capital firm, has raised $154 million from the final close of TIDE Africa Fund II, its second fund for technology in Africa, making it Africa’s largest Seed and Series A investor.
The $154 million was raised from the European Investment Bank (EIB), Allianz and DEG Impact’s joint venture, AfricaGrow, Visa Foundation and Bertelsmann to expand its early-stage, multi-sector mandate beyond Sub-Saharan Africa to Egypt.
According to Maurizio Caio, Founder and Managing Partner at TLcom Capital, “TLcom now counts among a small number of venture capital firms that have raised multiple substantial funds for technology in Africa. This is a testament to the quality of our team and the trust we’ve established with our limited partners. It’s also a major endorsement of our long-term view on Africa’s massive upside.”
“We are maintaining the same investment strategy for TIDE Africa Fund II as we had for our first fund, which made over 80% of its investments at Seed or Series A. With this final close, we’re thrilled that TLcom is in an even stronger position to continue to partner with Africa’s most talented entrepreneurs from early in their company-building journeys. We’re also excited to spend more time in the Egyptian ecosystem, co-investing alongside the most active local funds. TLcom is well on its way to realising our ambition of becoming Africa’s most sought-after early-stage VC and a truly pan-African firm.”
The $154 million is more than twice the size of TLcom Capital’s first fund, TIDE Africa Fund I which closed in 2020. TIDE Africa Fund II will make initial investments of $1 million to $3 million and will double down on TLcom Capital’s established presence in West and East Africa.
The fund has already made its first investments in South Africa and Egypt with LittleFish, a software company enabling payments and banking products for retail-focused SMBs, headquartered in Cape Town, and ILLA, a middle-mile logistics platform headquartered in Cairo.
With its new fund, TLcom Capital plans to deploy significant additional capital into female-founded African tech startups, building on the firm’s June 2022 co-investment commitment of $2 million to FirstCheck Africa, a female-focused pre-seed fund. TLcom Capital’s commitment to gender balance is reflected in its majority-female partnership and investment committee.
TLcom Capital currently has over $300 million under management. Its portfolio counts 17 startups, including Andela, Ajua, Autochek, Fairmoney, Ilara Health, ILLA, Kobo360, LittleFish, Okra, Pula, Seamless HR, Shara, Terragon Group, Twiga, uLesson, Vendease and Zone.
Boasting one of the most impressive early-stage portfolios in African tech, TLcom Capital supports a number of the continent’s fastest-growing startups, including uLesson, Autochek, Pula, Fairmoney and Andela, one of the continent’s six unicorn companies. The firm has a solid track record of attracting Africa’s most successful repeat founders, including Sim Shagaya (founder of uLesson, Konga and DealDey), Etop Ikpe (founder of Autochek and Cars45) and Grant Brooke (co-founder of Shara and Twiga).
“Across Africa, access to capital remains limited, especially for early-stage startups.” says Ambroise Fayolle, Vice President and Head of Investments at the European Investment Bank. “At the same time, a young, technology-savvy population provides fertile ground for young companies. Africa’s startup ecosystem has the potential to drive inclusive economic growth and foster positive social change, which the EIB is happy to support. Through our investment in TLcom’s TIDE Africa II Fund, we expect to build and expand on the success and impact of the first TIDE Africa Fund, delivering much-needed capital to the most promising high-growth companies.”