Sunday, July 13, 2025
24.5 C
Lagos

TLcom’s TIDE Africa Fund Closes at $71m

 

 TLcom, the Africa-focused Venture Capital firm says it has secured an additional $31million for its TIDE Africa Fund, bringing its Sub Saharan Africa (SSA)-focused fund to $71million.

The latest investment round has attracted international interest, with TLcom confirming participation from the UK based CDC, IFC as well as South Africa’s Sango Capital and Belgium’s BIO. The team now expects to make an additional five to six investments in pan-African companies over the coming 12 to 18 months from Seed to Later stage, as well as ensure capital resources for follow-on rounds for TLcom’s existing portfolio.

TIDE Africa is one of the most active funds operating in Sub Saharan Africa since its first close in 2017, with 6 companies in its portfolio, including Andela, Kobo360Twiga Foods, Ajua, Terragon Group and uLesson. Over the last 12 months, rounds led or co-led by TIDE Africa have raised over $150mn for African startups. Last year TLcom Capital was named Africa Technology Investor of the Year at the PE Africa Awards.

Speaking on the new investments in its TIDE Africa Fund, Maurizio Caio, Nairobi based Founder and Managing Partner at TLcom says, “It is time for Africa VC to graduate into a world-class asset class that can generate massive returns. We are excited to bring on board new strategic institutional investors, such as CDC, IFC, Sango Capital and BIO into the fund that share this view.  Attracting international investment from such renowned backers into the African VC space reflects the recognition of the work the TLcom team has already achieved in connecting some of the continent’s strongest entrepreneurs with the capital they need to scale.”

Launched in 1999, the 20+-year old Venture Capital firm currently has in excess of $200M under management across primary and secondary funds. The highly experienced team, with Senior Partner Dr. Omobola Johnson based in Nigeria, and Partners Andreata Muforo in Kenya, and Ido Sum in the UK, has consistently leveraged its on-the-ground presence in Africa to develop a broad portfolio ranging from agriculture to education, data analytics and logistics, focusing exclusively on technology-enabled services and innovation for SSA, across all stages of the venture capital cycle.

Nick O’Donohoe, Chief Executive of CDC, the UK’s publicly owned impact investor and largest investor in the Fund, said: “The investment in TLcom provides a critical foundation in our endeavour to plug the funding gap for early-stage companies and bolster entrepreneurship across Africa. CDC is excited to work with TLcom, leveraging technology and innovation to intervene in critical sectors such as education or agriculture and helping to address important consumer and business challenges.”

Omobola Johnson, TLcom’s Senior Partner and Nigeria’s former Minister of ICT concludes: “We are bullish on supporting and investing in tech-enabled African companies due to the opportunities for value generation that they provide. We are known for being an entrepreneur-led VC firm who values Africa-centric innovation, strong leadership teams and businesses who are solving real challenges in the market.”

 

 

 

 

spot_img
spot_img
spot_img

Hot this week

Fidelity Bank Delivers Hope to Internally Displaced Persons in Benue State

Team Lead, CSR, Fidelity Bank Plc, Victoria Abuka (Left);...

Union Bank Responds to Court Ruling on NICON, Global Fleet, Jimoh Ibrahim Case

Union Bank of Nigeria acknowledges the recent judgment of...

NAICOM, CIIN Laud IMT for Advancing Tech-Driven Insurance in Nigeria

The Commissioner for Insurance (CFI) and the CEO of...

NCDMB Unveils Nigerian Content Fund Certificate, Empowers 130 firms with $400m NCI Fund

The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board has introduced...

Local Content, NCDMB on the Spotlight at 2025 NOG Conference

The recently held 2025 Nigeria Oil and Gas (NOG)...

Topics

Commonwealth ICT Minister Forum Opens June 14

At their first biennial Commonwealth ICT Forum held in...

NCC: Inside the N150bn Spectrum Haul in 5 Months

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has exceeded its...

Lagos Shopping Festival 2015

The Lagos shopping Festival 2015 is set for Thursday, Friday and Saturday, December 17, 18 and 19 at Tafawa Balewa Square TBS, Lagos. Over 350 local and international exhibitors are expected at the Festival. Also, an estimated 1.5 million visitors are expected to visit the 3-day festival. For participation and enquiries, pls call 08023088874. Email: [email protected]. Or visit the website at www.lagosshoppingfestival.com.ng.

UBA Grows Earnings by 40% to N1.37tn in Half Year, Declares Interim Dividend of N2.00

Africa’s Global Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc...

ARCON DG, 37 Others Bag Advertising Fellowship Award

The Director-General of the Advertising Regulatory Council of Nigeria...

Banks, Telcos Disagreement Hindering Mobile Money Services

The inability of banks and telecom operators to agree on modalities for mobile money operations is hindering the potential of such transactions in Nigeria, compared to the acclaimed success of M-pesa in Kenya. Mobile money transactions need legislations and approvals from both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which regulates the banking sector and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that oversees telecom services in the country. Giving an insight into the success of M-Pesa in Kenya at the Commonwealth Broadband Forum 2015 in Abuja, Mr. Joseph Tiampati Musuni, Principal Secretary, Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology, Kenya, said their country experienced a similar Banks-Telcos disagreement at the outset of mobile money services in Kenya. But he added that the government was able to facilitate an amicable and working arrangement between them to pave way for roll-out of the service.

WSIS Unveils 18 2016 Prize Winners

ITU Secretary-General, Houlin Zhao yesterday announced the 18 winners...

Corruption: A Burden on Nigerian Businesses—Allianz Report

The Allianz Risk Barometer 2018 report reveals theft, fraud and corruption as the...
spot_img

Related Articles

Popular Categories

spot_imgspot_img