Ventures Platform is doubling down on Africa’s tech future with fresh firepower. The Lagos-based early-stage investor has announced the first close of its new VP Pan-African Fund II (PAF II), securing $64 million towards a targeted final size of $75 million.
The fund is designed to go beyond traditional seed activity. While Ventures Platform built its reputation backing founders at pre-seed and seed, PAF II will also lean into leading and catalysing Series A rounds, helping high-potential startups bridge the funding gap that often appears once early capital is exhausted. The firm plans to deepen its work in its home market of Nigeria, strengthen its push into Francophone Africa, and accelerate expansion into North Africa.
The first close sends a strong signal about confidence in both the firm and Africa’s startup opportunity. Around 70% of Limited Partner (LP) commitments came from investors in Ventures Platform’s previous institutional fund, underlining strong re-up conviction. The new fund has attracted a mix of development finance institutions, banks, government-backed programs, family offices and global tech operators.
Notable LPs include the Nigeria Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises (iDICE) programme – a flagship federal initiative aimed at making Nigeria a global hub for digital and creative industries – alongside the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Standard Bank (South Africa), British International Investment (BII), Proparco via its EU-supported Choose Africa VC programme, MSMEDA, and AfricaGrow. European family offices such as Alder Tree Investment and a consortium of global investors, including Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel, have also joined the pool.
With PAF II, Ventures Platform is sharpening its thesis around “painkiller” solutions: startups solving for non-consumption and plugging deep infrastructural gaps. The fund will continue to focus on sectors where technology can create outsized impact—Fintech, Healthtech, Agritech, Edtech, AI and other infrastructure-like plays that unlock access for the next billion Africans.
Founding Partner Kola Aina describes Africa as “the purest source of non-consensus alpha,” arguing that the continent’s biggest challenges are also its strongest investment opportunities. He frames the fund as “smart, contextual capital” designed not only to write cheques but to actively de-risk groundbreaking, market-creating innovation through post-investment support.
Ventures Platform’s track record gives weight to that ambition. Since 2016, the firm has backed more than 90 startups across multiple verticals, many of which have gone on to become category leaders. Its first institutional fund, a $46m vehicle, closed in December 2022, has already produced strong performance, with four out of six vintages returned to date. The portfolio boasts healthy graduation from seed to Series A and beyond.
Some of the fund’s better-known investees include Raenest, Remedial Health and HR SaaS player SeamlessHR, as well as cross-border fintech LemFi and Moniepoint, which have raised Series B and C rounds respectively. Elsewhere in the portfolio, OmniRetail, Thrive Agric and Moniepoint all appeared in the Financial Times 2024 ranking of Africa’s 25 fastest-growing companies, with OmniRetail taking the top spot. Piggyvest and Moniepoint have also been recognised by CNBC among the world’s leading fintechs, while Remedial Health made Time’s 2025 list of the World’s Top Health Companies.
Development finance partners see the fund as a lever for broader economic impact. The Bank of Industry, which implements the iDICE programme, frames its investment in Ventures Platform Fund II as part of Nigeria’s wider agenda to scale the digital and creative sectors, create jobs at scale and back high-growth founders. Standard Bank, Proparco and IFC each emphasise PAF II’s role in channelling capital into scalable, problem-solving startups that can strengthen local value chains and open up new opportunities for young people and small businesses.
Behind the numbers, Ventures Platform is betting that its blend of local insight, operator-led team and structured portfolio support will keep it at the centre of Africa’s next tech wave. With VP Pan-African Fund II, the firm is positioning itself not just as an early believer in breakthrough founders, but as a long-term partner guiding them from first cheque to growth stage—while pushing its broader mission of democratising prosperity across the continent.
