TLcom Capital Raises $154 million in Funding to Boost Its African Growth

TLcom Capital has raised $154 million in its second Fund, TIDE Africa II
With this second fund, TLcom Capital maintains its early-stage, multi-sector focus and expands its mandate beyond Sub-Saharan Africa to Egypt.
TLcom Capital currently has over $300 million under management.

TLcom Capital, the Africa-focused venture capital firm, announced the final close of TIDE Africa Fund II, its second fund for technology in Africa, at $154 million. Confirming TLcom Capital’s status as Africa’s largest Seed and Series A investor, the new fund accelerates the firm’s mission to partner with elite founders to tackle Africa’s biggest and most complex challenges with innovative solutions that will unlock massive value in the continent’s critical sectors.

At more than twice the size of TLcom Capital’s first fund, TIDE Africa Fund II is oversubscribed and sees participation from several new, high-profile LPs alongside returning LPs from the firm’s first Africa-focused fund, TIDE Africa Fund I, closed in 2020. These include the European Investment Bank (EIB), Allianz and DEG Impact’s joint venture, AfricaGrow, Visa Foundation and Bertelsmann.

With this second fund, TLcom Capital maintains its early-stage, multi-sector focus and expands its mandate beyond Sub-Saharan Africa to Egypt. TIDE Africa Fund II will make initial investments of $1 million to $3 million, maintaining significant follow-on capacity to support strong portfolio performers into their growth stages, where the fund continues to see massive upside potential.

TLcom Capital Raises $154 million

Doubling down on TLcom Capital’s established presence in West and East Africa, the fund has already made its first investments in South Africa and Egypt with LittleFish, a software company enabling payments and banking products for retail-focused SMBs, headquartered in Cape Town, and ILLA, a middle-mile logistics platform headquartered in Cairo.

“TLcom now counts among a small number of venture capital firms that have raised multiple substantial funds for technology in Africa. This is a testament to the quality of our team and the trust we’ve established with our limited partners. (yurtsofamerica.com) It’s also a major endorsement of our long-term view on Africa’s massive upside,” said Maurizio Caio, Founder and Managing Partner at TLcom Capital.

TLcom Capital Raises $154 million — African blockchain startups are steadily dominating the continent’s tech Industry.[Photo/BBC]

The firm said it maintains the same TIDE Africa Fund II investment strategy as its first fund, which made over 80 per cent of its investments at Seed or Series A.

Boasting one of the most impressive early-stage portfolios in African tech, TLcom Capital supports a number of the continent’s fastest-growing startups, including uLesson, Autochek, Pula, Fairmoney and Andela, one of the continent’s six unicorn companies. The firm has a solid track record of attracting Africa’s most successful repeat founders, including Sim Shagaya (founder of uLesson, Konga and DealDey), Etop Ikpe (founder of Autochek and Cars45) and Grant Brooke (co-founder of Shara and Twiga).

“We’re also excited to spend more time in the Egyptian ecosystem, co-investing alongside the most active local funds. TLcom is well on its way to realising our ambition of becoming Africa’s most sought-after early-stage VC and a truly pan-African firm,” added Caio

Since TLcom Capital announced TIDE Africa Fund II’s first close in January 2022, the firm has also significantly expanded its team, adding investment and operational capacity by doubling its headcount to 15 employees, including new investment professionals in Nigeria and Kenya.

Ambroise Fayolle, the Vice President and Head of Investments at the European Investment Bank, said that access to capital across Africa remains limited, especially for early-stage startups.

“At the same time, a young, technology-savvy population provides fertile ground for young companies. Africa’s startup ecosystem has the potential to drive inclusive economic growth and foster positive social change, which the EIB is happy to support. Through our investment in TLcom’s TIDE Africa II Fund, we expect to build and expand on the success and impact of the first TIDE Africa Fund, delivering much-needed capital to the most promising high-growth companies.”

Najada Kumbuli, Vice President & Head of Investments at Visa Foundation, stated that their investment in TIDE Africa Fund II demonstrated their dedication to aiding in developing strong economies where businesses could thrive and produce significant financial and impact returns.

She admired TLcom’s history of supporting visionary entrepreneurs in developing high-growth business models capable of leveraging Africa’s substantial economic potential. Kumbuli emphasized that the firm’s alignment with Visa Foundation’s mission bolstered their confidence that, through this partnership, their capital would contribute to creating the next generation of successful and diverse entrepreneurs shaping the continent’s future.

With its new fund, TLcom Capital plans to deploy significant additional capital into female-founded African tech startups, building on its June 2022 co-investment commitment of $2 million to FirstCheck Africa, a female-focused pre-seed fund. TLcom Capital’s commitment to gender balance is reflected in its majority-female partnership and investment committee.

TLcom Capital currently has over $300 million under management. Its portfolio counts 17 startups, including Andela, Ajua, Autochek, Fairmoney, Ilara Health, ILLA, Kobo360, LittleFish, Okra, Pula, Seamless HR, Shara, Terragon Group, Twiga, uLesson, Vendease and Zone.