Innovate Africa Fund has invested in TNKR, Oikus and AddressMe, as its inaugural portfolio companies and early proof points for its founder-first, product-led investment model.
The fund, which launched in 2024 with a $2.5 million rollout, selected the three startups from a pipeline of more than 5,600 applicants across Africa, prioritising disciplined experimentation and rapid learning over high deal volume.
Two of the new investments, TNKR and Oikus, have already secured up to five times in follow-on angel funding within months of Innovate Africa Fund’s intervention, underscoring investor appetite for rigorously validated, idea-stage ventures.
TNKR entered the fund as a content platform before pivoting twice during structured product sprints. The startup is now building Leonardo, an AI-powered workshop assistant designed to address Africa’s hard-tech skills gap.
Oikus initially launched as a property marketplace, but fund-led research revealed that mistrust—not discovery—was the core challenge in Nigeria’s real estate sector. The company has since pivoted to building verification infrastructure and is preparing a Lagos pilot to test pricing and trust architecture at scale.
AddressMe joined the portfolio after winning World Product Day Lagos, Africa’s first edition of the global product leadership event, hosted by Innovate Africa Fund in partnership with the Innovate Africa Foundation.
Founded to address the chronic lack of capital at idea stage, Innovate Africa Fund applies six selection criteria — character, credibility, capacity, courage, competence and context — and deploys capital alongside hands-on experimentation through its Wicked Innovation Labs.
“There is no shortage of ideas to solve Africa’s problems, but too few are tested rigorously before scale,” said Kristin Wilson, managing partner at Innovate Africa Fund.
Looking ahead, the fund plans to make up to eight additional early-stage investments, expand its presence in Kenya, Egypt and South Africa, and formalise Wicked Innovation Labs to extend its product leadership training beyond its portfolio.