Africa-focused venture capital firm TLcom Capital has announced the final close of its $154 million Tide Africa II seed-stage fund, which focuses on startups and Series A businesses.
Founded in 1999 and with offices in Lagos, Nairobi and London, TLcom Capital has US$350 million in assets under management across Africa and Europe. The firm is Africa’s largest seed and Series A investor, and has now confirmed with this the closing of the oversubscribed TIDE Africa Fund II.
At US$154 million, the final closing of TLcom’s second technology fund in Africa is more than double the size of its first fund and will accelerate the company’s mission to partner with elite founders to tackle Africa’s biggest and most complex challenges with innovative solutions that will unlock enormous value in the continent’s critical sectors.
TIDE Africa II sees the participation of several new, high-profile LPs alongside returning LPs from the firm’s first Africa-focused fund, TIDE Africa Fund I, which closed in 2020. European Investment Bank (EIB), Allianz and Effect of DEGhis 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 USD 1 million to USD 3 million, retaining significant trailing capacity to support strong portfolio performers in their growth stages, where the fund continues to see tremendous upside potential.
Doubling TLcom Capital’s established presence in West and East Africa, the fund has already made its first investments in South Africa and Egypt with Small fisha software company that enables payments and banking products for small and medium-sized retail businesses, based in Cape Town and ILLA, a middle-mile logistics platform based in Cairo.
“TLcom is now among a small number of venture capital firms that have raised significant amounts of technology capital in Africa. This is a testament to the quality of our team and the trust we have built with our limited partners. It is also an important endorsement of our long-term view of Africa’s huge upside,” said Maurizio Caio, founder and managing partner of TLcom Capital.
“We are maintaining the same investment strategy for TIDE Africa Fund II as we had for our first fund, which made over 80 percent of its investments in seed or Series A. With this final close, we are excited that the TLcom is in an even stronger position to continue working with Africa’s most talented entrepreneurs since their early company-building journeys. We are 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 realizing our ambition to become Africa’s most sought-after early-stage VC and a truly pan-African company.”
TLcom Capital already backs a number of the continent’s fastest growing start-ups including; u Lesson, Autocheck, Sell, Fairmoney and Andela.
“Across Africa, access to capital remains limited, especially for early-stage startups,” said Ambroise Fayolle, vice-president and chief investment officer at the European Investment Bank. “At the same time, a young tech-savvy population is providing fertile ground for new companies. Africa’s startup ecosystem has the potential to drive inclusive economic growth and drive positive social change, which the EIB is happy to support. Through our investment in TLcom’s TIDE Africa Fund II, we expect to build on and expand the success and impact of the first TIDE Africa Fund by providing much-needed capital to the most promising high-growth companies.”