The Nairobi-based venture capital firm, TLcom Capital, known to back up startups like uLesson, Vendease, and Seamless HR, has announced the end of the second round of the early-stage fund called TIDE Africa II. The fund boasts of $154 million in capital, ready to invest in early-stage startups.
The first funding round achieved a first close of $71 million in January 2022, with expectations to also close the second round in 2022, but the planned strategy did not materialize.
According to Maurizio Caio, founder and managing partner at TLcom, it took over two years to conclude the second round majorly because of minor investment issues. After the first round, the venture capital received large investments that required some documentation and adjustments, which is majorly the reason for the delay.
TIDE Africa II is over two times the amount of the first fund of $71 million.
Looking at the global statistics, reports show that there has been a decline in funding African startups since 2022. However, in 2023, African startups raised $3.2 billion in capital, which is an increase from 2020s to $2.1 billion.
As foreign investments continue to disappear from Africa’s financial ecosystem, local venture capital such as TLcom has stepped up to fill in the gap.
The Venture capital starts investing at the seed stage or Series A, and follow-up capital for portfolio startups that have reached their growth stage.
“The first check typically ranges between $1 million to $3 million,” says Caio. The venture Capital is also planning to fund female-founded tech startups such as FirstCheck Africa, which saw a $2 million early investment from TLcom.
The goal of this capital venture is to compare the global venture capital market with the African counterpart in the next three to five years, to show that Africa’s tech ecosystem has been and will continue to be profitable.
Investors in the TIDE Africa Fund II include Allianz, DEZ Impact’s Joint venture, Bertelsmann, the European Investment Bank, AfricaGrow, and the Visa Foundation.
The TIDE Africa II fund has been deployed in the South African startup LittleFish, specializing in enabling payments and banking products for retail-focused SMBs. And the Egyptian Middle-mile logistics company, ILLA.
