Ventures Platform, a Pan-African seed-stage venture capital firm, has officially announced the $64 million first close of its second fund, VP Pan-African Fund II, signaling a bold move to deepen early-stage investments, catalyse Series A rounds, and expand its footprint across Africa to drive the continent’s next wave of technological innovation.
Founded in 2016, Ventures Platform focuses on companies that bridge infrastructural gaps and unlock prosperity by eliminating access barriers and reducing delivery costs, identifying ventures that address non-consumption through market-creating innovations.
Its portfolio companies include Raenest, Fez Delivery, LemFi, Moniepoint, OmniRetail, Paystack, PiggyVest, Remedial Health, SunFi, ThriveAgric, and Verto.
The first close of VP Pan-African Fund II reached US$64 million, with a final target of US$75 million, attracting participation from top-tier commercial banks, corporates, development finance institutions, global institutional investors, and high-net-worth individuals, including Standard Bank, IFC, BII, A to Z Impact, Proparco with FISEA, and AfricaGrow.
The fund also garnered significant interest from leading European family offices, such as Alder Tree Investment, and a consortium of prominent global investors, including Michael Seibel, founder of Y Combinator.
Strategically, VP PAF II will expand Ventures Platform’s investment scope across Africa. Beyond pre-seed and seed investments, the fund will lead and catalyse Series A rounds, mitigating risks for high-potential ventures and enhancing value creation. It will strengthen the firm’s presence in Francophone Africa, accelerate expansion into North Africa, and double down on core operations in Nigeria and wider Africa.
The fund prioritises ventures developing essential “painkiller” solutions that plug infrastructural gaps and solve non-consumption challenges across sectors such as fintech, e-health, agri-tech, ed-tech, and AI.
Kola Aina, founding partner at Ventures Platform, stated:
“The backing we’ve received from a diverse group of blue-chip partners is a powerful endorsement of Africa’s place as the purest, most asymmetric source for non-consensus alpha and transformative impact. The continent’s innovation opportunity is boundless, the needs are immense, but realising its full impact demands smart contextual capital, post-investment value creation, and a commitment to de-risking groundbreaking market-creating innovations.”
He added:
“We believe Africa’s challenges are its greatest opportunities. By supporting resilient founders, we’re catalysing sustainable, market-creating innovations that will shape the future of the continent and plug gaps for the next billion. As we expand our footprint, our focus remains clear: to identify and back ventures that are building market-creating innovations that solve for non-consumption and drive economic evolution.”
