Ingressive Capital boosts seed funding power of African startup fund

Ingressive Capital targets pre-seed and seed-stage tech-enabled businesses in the B2B space that provide tech solutions to Africa’s traditional billion-dollar industries, as well as B2C fintech and internet companies.

Nigeria-based venture capital firm Ingressive Capital has doubled its investment vehicle to back high-growth, tech-enabled startups across Africa.

The investment fund, now with $10 million at its disposal, aims to support the next generation of African innovators.

Ingressive targets pre-seed and seed-stage tech-enabled businesses in the B2B space that provide tech solutions to Africa’s traditional billion-dollar industries, as well as B2C fintech and internet companies.

The venture capital firm on average invests between $200,000 and $400,000, in return for 10% equity.

A fifth of Ingressive’s fund investors run some of Africa’s largest traditional businesses, which gives the portfolio access to business development and pan-Africa markets. And four-fifths run later stage investment funds that can provide follow-on funding from abroad.

Some of Ingressive Capital’s new investors include Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Plexo Capital and Platform Capital. Additional backers include Michael Seibel, chief executive officer of Y Combinator, and Techstars, WTI and more than 10 other top funds and accelerators.

Fund advisors include Seth Levine, managing director of Foundry Group; Kai Bond, partner of Courtside Ventures; Maurice Werdegar, president and chief executive officer of WTI. Their portfolios include Paystack, Tizeti, Jetstream, 54gene, OZÉ, Bamboo and many more high-growth startups. 

Despite the current economic backdrop, Ingressive founder Maya Horgan-Famodu suggested that now is the perfect time to boost investment in African startups.

Horgan-Famodu said: “Many billion-dollar companies have been founded or found their footing during economic downturns and market contractions. We know that creativity blossoms when resources become scarce.”

“We launched and grew Ingressive through Nigeria’s last recession. As far as global businesses, IBM found its market and scaled through the Great Depression. Zendesk launched in 2007 and raised in 2008, and Airbnb was founded out of the 2008 downturn. WhatsApp, Uber and Venmo launched in the 2009 recession. And on the continent, Safaricom was founded in 1993 from Kenya’s worst economic performance since its independence with inflation reaching 100% that year, and mPesa started in 2007, and grew through the following years’ global recession.”

Image: Ingressive Capital

Mark Dugdale