Nigerian tech startups on to a good start in 2022
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Nigeria tech startups are on pace in 2022 to surpass the $1.7 billion investment they received in 2021, with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) already laying out for them $3 million to consolidate their top spot in Africa.
African tech startups as a whole raised a record $4.2 billion in 2021, out of which Nigeria alone attracted 40.47 per cent. The continental figure surpassed the combined total for 2019 and 2020.
Indeed, Nigerian female startups also benefited from the boom last year with six of them raising more than $1 million each to net a total $16 million.
The IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, plans to invest $3 million through its Startup Catalyst Program, Microtraction Fund Il to help grow Nigerian startups.
Microtraction Fund II is a $15 million seed-stage fund focused on pre-seed and seed-stage investments in tech and tech-enabled businesses in Sub Saharan Africa.
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Equity investment
The investment was disclosed on the IFC Project Information & Data Portal, the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries, per Nairametrics.
MI Holdings Limited, a Cayman Islands-based exempted corporation, is the general partner.
The IFC proposed an equity investment of up to $1.5 million through the Startup Catalyst Program and $1.5 million through the IDA18 IFC-MIGAVPrivate Sector Window’s Blended Finance Facility (BFF) (IDA PSW).
It pledged not to exceed 20 per cent of total commitments. The fund, which is domiciled in Nigeria, will invest in high-growth markets in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The fund will be supported by the Blended Finance Facility (BFF) of the IDA18 IFC-MIGA Private Sector Window (IDA PSW), created by the World Bank Group to catalyse private sector investment in IDA countries, with a focus on fragile and conflict-affected states.
