Over the past few years, Nigeria has consistently positioned itself in the top 4 for most funded countries in Africa, by both amount raised and startup investment. At a total value of $307 million in 71 deals, Nigerian startups received the most investment in 2020 with an average deal size of $4.3 million. So far this year, at least 216 investors have already participated in one deal or more on the continent.
According to the number of investments and ticket sizes, these are some of the big investors backing Nigerian startups in 2021.
Kepple Africa
A Japanese venture capital firm, Kepple Africa Ventures co-creates new industries from Africa by fostering startup growth, facilitating cross-border expansions, and catalyzing mergers and acquisitions.
Founded by Ryosuke Yamawaki and Takahiro Kanzaki in December 2018, the company has offices in Nairobi and Lagos and specializes in seed investments of between $50,000 and $150,000 in early-stage tech startups on the continent. Kepple has 93 companies in its portfolio across 11 markets. Some notable Nigerian investments this year include Decagon, MVXChange, Termii, and TeamApt.
Launch Africa
Launch Africa is a leading Pan-African VC fund solving the significant funding gap in the Seed and pre-Series A investment landscape in Africa. With a decade-long track record of venture building alongside some of the smartest founding teams in Africa, Launch Africa backs startups across multiple sectors, regions, and products that tackle the most meaningful challenges on the continent.
The VC firm has a portfolio presence in 11 countries and has invested in some Nigerian startups including Chekkit, Payhippo, Kuda, Omnibiz, and MVXChange.
Tiger Global
Tiger Global is an investment firm focused on public and private companies in the global Internet, software, consumer, and financial technology industries.
Founded in 2001 by Chase Coleman, Tiger established itself as a force in pre-IPO tech investing well over a decade ago after winning bets on companies like Facebook and LinkedIn. Tiger Global led the investments in Flutterwave and Fairmoney.
Valar Ventures
Valar Ventures is a VC firm backed by Peter Thiel and focused on startups outside of Silicon Valley. Valar believes that an increasing number of transformative technology companies will be started outside of the Bay Area and that these startups will benefit from working with investors who understand how to build a global business from the emerging tech hubs in Europe and North America.
The VC firm invests in high-margin, fast-growing technology companies that are pursuing huge market opportunities. Valar has co-led investments in Kuda banks’ series A and B rounds.
Ycombinator
Ycombinator is an American startup accelerator that invests in a wide range of startups twice a year. Since its launch in 2005, YC has invested in over 3000 companies globally. This year, YC has invested in 19 African startups, 7 of these are from Nigeria including Mono, Sendbox, Payhippo, Supplias.
