NIGERIA – Microtraction, a Lagos-based early-stage venture capital firm, has raised US$15 million for the first close of its community fund, which will invest in pre-seed stage startups across Africa.
Microtraction wants to use this money to make first-round investments in at least 60 African entrepreneurs.
“Up to ~20% of those investments will get the quick top-up in their next round. So far, 20 investments have been made through this community fund,” the firm disclosed.
Microtraction, founded in 2017 by Yele Bademosi and Kwamena Afful with initial funding from PAVE Investments, Michael Seibel, Andy Volk, and Chris Shultz, has invested in 36 startups with 83 founders across two funds in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda.
The venture capital firm’s portfolio includes fintech, health tech, SaaS, edtech, crypto, gaming, and mobility. These firms, which include 54gene, Cowrywise, Helicarrier, Lemonade Finance, Bitsika, and Raise, have secured over US$100 million in follow-on financing and have generated over 900 jobs.
Over the course of three years, Microtraction funded 19 startups in four countries through its first fund. 14 of the 19 firms were accepted into global accelerators, 10 are valued at US$10 million or more, 37% include female co-founders, and 18 have obtained follow-on financing. These companies have a total worth of more than US$540 million.
The clients in Microtraction’s latest community fund include over 30 venture-backed African company founders, including Helicarrier’s Ire Aderinokun, Paystack’s Shola Akinlade, Cowrywise’s Razaq Ahmed, 54gene’s Francis Osifo, Piggyvest’s Odun Eweniyi Paga’s Jay Alabraba, Spleet’s Tola Adesanmi, and Float’s Jesse Ghansah.
Others include Ribbit Capital’s Micky Malka, Hustle Fund’s Elizabeth Yin, Sebastes Capital’s Jason Fish, a16z’s David Haber, Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel, 776’s Alexis Ohanian, Tilo Bonow of Bonow Ventures, Charles Hudson of Precursor Ventures, Sheel Mohnot of Better Tomorrow Ventures, and Michael Sidgmore of Broadhaven Ventures.
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