By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
If past remains prologue, just five investors may power startups beyond $400 million this year in Nigeria, which attracted $307 in funding in 2020 and is always in the top four most funded countries in Africa.
Last year, Nigerian startups received $307 million investment in 71 deals of $4.3 million average amount. So far this year, at least 216 investors have participated in one deal or more on the continent.
Below are some of the investors backing Nigerian startups in 2021, based on the number of investments and ticket sizes, as reported by Nairametrics.
Kepple Africa
Kepple Africa Ventures, a Japanese venture capitalist (VC), co-creates new industries in Africa by fostering the growth of startups, facilitating cross-border expansions, and catalysing mergers and acquisitions.
The firm was founded by Ryosuke Yamawaki and Takahiro Kanzaki in December 2018.
It has offices in Nairobi and Lagos and specialises 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. Its investment in Nigerian startups so far this year involves Decagon, MVXChange, Termii, and TeamApt.
Launch Africa
Launch Africa, a Pan-African VC fund, solves the significant funding gap in the Seed and pre-Series A investment landscape on the continent.
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 continentwide.
It has a portfolio presence in 11 countries and has invested in Nigerian startups, among them 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, as well as financial technology industries.
Tiger, founded in 2001 by Chase Coleman, established itself as a force in pre-IPO tech investing well over a decade ago after winning stakes in companies like Facebook and LinkedIn.
In Nigeria, Tiger Global led investments in Flutterwave and Fairmoney.
Valar Ventures
Valar Ventures, backed by Peter Thiel, focuses on startups outside of Silicon Valley.
It believes that an increasing number of transformative tech firms will be started outside of the Bay Area and benefit from working with investors versed in building a global business from the emerging tech hubs in Europe and North America.
Valar invests in high-margin, fast-growing tech firms pursuing huge markets. It has co-led investments in Kuda Banks’ series A and B rounds in Nigeria.
Ycombinator
Ycombinator, an American startup accelerator, invests in a wide range of startups twice a year. Since its launch in 2005, YC has invested in over 3,000 companies globally.
This year, it has invested in 19 African startups, seven of them in Nigeria, including Mono, Sendbox, Payhippo, Supplias.