African early-stage investor Ventures Platform has closed its second institutional fund at $84 million, surpassing its $75 million target as new investors including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Norfund and Alphatron joined its limited partner base.
The close comes three years after the firm raised its first institutional fund and at a time when venture investment in Africa has faced tighter funding conditions and greater scrutiny from global investors.
Ventures Platform said the fund, known as VP Pan-African Fund II, will invest from the pre-seed stage through Series A, with additional capital available to support portfolio companies in later funding rounds.
The new investors include EBRD, Norway’s development finance institution Norfund, investment firm Alphatron and Ashesi University Foundation. A group of family offices also participated in the final close.
They join existing investors including Nigeria’s Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises program, the International Finance Corp., Standard Bank of South Africa, British International Investment, Proparco, the Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises Development Agency, AfricaGrow and Alder Tree Investment.
The fund’s $84 million close is notable as African startups have faced a more difficult fundraising environment following the surge in venture capital activity earlier in the decade. Investors have increasingly focused on companies with clearer paths to revenue, stronger governance and more disciplined capital use.
Ventures Platform, which has operated for more than a decade, has invested in African technology companies including Moniepoint, PiggyVest, OmniRetail, Raenest, _able and Seamless Technologies, formerly SeamlessHR.
Kola Aina, the firm’s founding and managing partner, said the fund would focus on entrepreneurs building companies with stronger technical capabilities, governance and knowledge of the markets they serve.
“This fund is ultimately not about the capital we’ve raised, but about the entrepreneurs we’re privileged to be able to back,” Aina said in a statement.
The firm’s new institutional backing comes as development finance institutions continue to play a significant role in African venture capital, helping channel institutional capital into an asset class that remains relatively small compared with other emerging markets.
Dirk Werner, managing director of equity at EBRD, said venture capital in Africa remains underdeveloped relative to the continent’s entrepreneurial activity and that the investment would help strengthen access to growth capital.
Alphatron Investment Manager Jerry Jansen said the firm sees potential in Africa’s technology sector and expects to work with Ventures Platform to support companies as they expand.
Ventures Platform said the new fund will target businesses addressing challenges and opportunities across sectors, with technology used to expand economic access and inclusion.
The firm did not disclose the amount raised in the fund’s initial close or the individual commitments from its limited partners.
The $84 million fund gives Ventures Platform additional capital to deploy as African startups contend with a funding market that has become more selective, while investors remain interested in businesses capable of serving large and underpenetrated markets across the continent.