Tofino Capital to invest $50,000 or $1 million in each startup
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Tofino Capital is set to invest $10 million in early-stage startups in Nigeria and other African countries, split into $50,000 for pre-seed and $1 million for seed firms across all sectors, with a particular focus on B2B.
The venture capitalist says it has already raised $5 million of out of the $10 million fund targeting young startups.
Tofino Capital, founded by Eliot Pence and Aubrey Hruby, has secured funding from partners that include large family offices, top-tier venture funds, and high net worth investors.
“We were driven by a question we didn’t think the venture community had answered. ‘Why do some of the fastest-growing markets have the lowest per capita availability of venture financing?’ Egypt, Philippines, Nigeria and Bangladesh, for example, have on average US$5 per capita of venture investment, whereas China is above US$40,” Pence said.
“We were also inspired by firms like Founders Fund, A16Z and Derris, which emphasise the importance of the founder and the story they are telling.
“For many entrepreneurs in frontier markets, having an amazing story isn’t the hard part, it’s getting the story out there that’s hard. We feel we are uniquely positioned to help them do that.”
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Previous investments
Tofino Capital in 2019 invested an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding in Nigerian startup SeamlessHR, a human resources tech platform focused on frontier and emerging markets.
The startup earlier this year raised $10 million in Series A funding for its next phase of growth and regional expansion, per Nairametrics.
Tofino Capital has equally invested in startups like Sabi and Eksab.
Pence and Hruby are also cofounders of public relations firm insiderPR, which they said gives them early access to some of the fastest-growing startups in emerging markets.