Amid global pandemic, this female-led VC is betting on new African startups with $10m

In the middle of the global pandemic, not only startups are “doing well” by adding more funds to their war chest, venture capital firms seem not to be left out. 

About two months ago, Stears, a Nigerian digital media company in a seed round led by a Nigerian-based fund with contribution from Luminate, a philanthropic organisation launched by the Omidyar Group and another undisclosed local venture capital company raised $600,000.

Likewise, Chipper Cash, a mobile cross-border money transfer platform focused on African markets closed a $13.8 million Series A funding round led by Deciens Capital last week.

According to a report, African startups raised 30% more capital year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020. However, as the coronavirus pandemic hit many countries, the negative impact began to decelerate the progress made. 

With the outbreak, it’s expected that investors will probably look into “portfolio startups and established companies with proven business models in uncertain circumstances”,  leaving seed stage startups at risk the report says. 

Ingressive Capital, a venture firm that funds pre-seed and seed stage tech businesses in both the B2B and B2C spaces look to help companies at risk as it has doubled its fund size from $5 million to $10 million. 

Founded by Maya Horgan Famodu in 2017, Ingressive Capital secured a $5 million fund to set off. The company which targets 10% ownership in companies is based in Sub-Saharan Africa with typical check sizes of up to $400k.

Recall that in 2019, Ingressive Capital called for online applications following its announcement that it will be investing $50,000 to $100,000 and the ticket sizes were put at $100,000 at the time.

The managing director, Maya has noted that the ticket sizes will change going forward. “We previously invested $50,000 to $100,000. But now we’re investing $200,000 to $400,000 for 10% ownership,” she said.

For the additional fund, the new investors include the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), San Francisco-based Plexo Capital and Lagos-based Platform Capital. The venture capital firm mentioned that other investors include Techstars, Michael Seibel; the CEO of Y Combinator, and more than 10 other investors and accelerators.

A report also states that fund advisors for the fund include the managing director of Foundry Group, Seth Levine; Courtside Ventures partner, Kai Bond; president and CEO of WTI, Maurice Werdegar.

Currently, the company operates in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana but now, it is looking to North Africa, starting with Egypt. Since the second quarter of the year, Ingressive capital has funded four new companies which include, 54Gene, Jetstream, Paystack, Fuelmetrics, and FunnelJoy. 

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