TLcom Capital Seals $154 Million Fund for African Startup Growth

TLcom Capital, a Nairobi-based VC firm known for supporting startups like Vendease, Seamless HR, and uLesson, has successfully closed its TIDE Africa II fund at a whopping $154 million. 

This fund, which focuses on helping early-stage startups, initially secured $70 million in January 2022, with a plan to secure more by the end of the year. It ended up taking over two years to surpass its target due to large investments needing some paperwork adjustments, according to Maurizio Caio, the founder and managing partner at TLcom Capital.

This new fund is about double the size of TLcom’s first one, which was $71 million and closed in February 2021. As global interest in venture capital has waned since 2022, startup funding in Africa slowed down. 

In 2023, African startups raised only $3.2 billion, the lowest since 2020’s $2.1 billion. With many foreign investors leaving, local VC firms like TLcom have stepped in to fill the gap.

TLcom Capital typically invests in startups at the seed or Series A stage and provides additional funding as they grow. Their initial investments range from $1 to $3 million. They also prioritise funding female-founded tech startups and have committed $2 million to FirstCheck Africa, a fund supporting such startups.

TLcom’s goal is to demonstrate to the global VC market over the next few years that African tech can yield significant returns. They plan to invest in 20-25 startups, following a similar strategy to their first fund, which made most of its investments at the seed or Series A stage.

Investors in TIDE Africa Fund II include the European Investment Bank (EIB), Allianz, DEG Impact’s joint venture AfricaGrow, Visa Foundation, and Bertelsmann. 

This new fund not only expands TLcom’s reach to Egypt and South Africa but also allows them to collaborate with African founders to address the continent’s challenges with innovative solutions.

Already, TIDE Africa Fund II has invested in South Africa’s LittleFish and Egypt’s ILLA, supporting them in their missions to provide payment and banking solutions for retail-focused SMBs and middle-mile logistics services, respectively.