LoftyInc Capital Management, an early-stage African-focused venture capital firm,
announces the final close of its over-subscribed LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3 (LAF3).
It was raised in 8 months with participation from African HNWIs, US family offices,
global tech giants, financial institutions, and angel investors. LAF3 closed in Q1 of this
year.
LoftyInc Capital Management Team
Coming off our first unicorn exit via LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 2 (LAF2) investment
in Flutterwave, we launched LAF3 in 2021 as a $10m fund. However, it closed 40%
oversubscribed at $14.2M. LAF3 is a venture capital fund investing in Seed-to-Series A
technology-enabled companies founded by bold Afropreneurs that are building the
rails for Africa’s digital infrastructure. The companies that LAF3 invests in are set to
experience rapid growth with the backing of our strong local and regional support
networks.
Idris Ayodeji Bello, Founding Partner of LoftyInc Capital Management stated,
“Earlier this year, we closed our third Fund, the LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3, which
was 40% oversubscribed, to continue our goal of seeding African tech giants.
The close was significant in that it brought together an array of investor types
including young African operators and founders, African HNWIs and African financial
institutions.
It is the next rung in our task of building an ecosystem of investors backing founders
of African descent building companies that make a difference globally.”
In line with our strategy of writing smart checks quickly to exceptional founders,
LAF3 has already invested in 52 companies across the continent in fintech,
e-commerce, media, logistics, and healthcare sectors. The fund is pan-African, with a
particular focus on the hyper-growth tech ecosystems in Nigeria and Egypt,
including the most promising tech solutions from the large, global African Diaspora.
With the close of the fund, the LoftyInc Capital Management team will significantly
deepen their focus on investing in the most promising early to growth-stage
startups improving African lives with disruptive tech-enabled products and services.
Christian Ekpo, Vice President at FBNQuest Funds, says “FBNQuest Funds Ltd is
pleased to invest with LoftyInc Capital Management in the 3rd edition of its
pan-African technology venture capital fund (LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3).
FBNQuest Funds has backed LoftyInc based on its solid track record in venture
capital investing and its drive to democratize venture capital investing in Nigeria and
beyond. We believe that LoftyInc is well-positioned to deliver on our shared objective
to provide capital, the required operational support, and international partnerships
to African technology startups.”
LoftyInc Capital Management is led by a nimble team with over 70 years of
combined venture operational experience and a strong 13-year track record as one of
the earliest investors building and investing in the African tech ecosystem. Our
Founding Partners, Idris Bello, Marsha Wulff, and Michael Oluwagbemi, have worked
together for over 12 years investing in Africa and the diaspora. Since the first close of
LAF3, the LoftyInc Capital Management team has expanded adding on more
investment professionals, operations and marketing team members.
“Very few GP teams will adequately aggregate high quality personalities and
experience alongside an exceptional portfolio of tech companies & founders. LoftyInc
has managed to do exactly that over the past decade in Africa. Backing them has
been one of my life’s best investment decisions and it is an immense pleasure to
continue to do so,” expressed Ibrahim Sagna, Chairman of Silverbacks Investments.
With the close of fundraising for LAF3, the team has put a particularly keen focus on
portfolio support. “There are 5 pillars of portfolio support that are very important to
us. LoftyInc has always been about being more than just capital. The portfolio
support team and I simply scale up what Idris, Michael, and Marsha have already
been doing for founders for years,” says Lydia Idem, Chief Operating Officer. Our
efforts have led to new markets, new customers, and new jobs for the companies in
our portfolio.
“LoftyInc has been very supportive in terms of introducing us to new investors and
connecting us to new hires. They also participated in our Series A which shows their
willingness to support their startups and founders in the long run,” said Deepankar
Ruststagi, CEO and founder Omnibiz.
With LAF3, LoftyInc doubles down on our thesis that Africa’s prosperity is through
high growth entrepreneurship that leads to massive job creation. Ed Zimmerman,
Co-Founder, First Close Partners, sums it up saying, “As serial investors in both
African startups and venture funds on the continent, we kept seeing and hearing
about Idris Bello and LoftyInc. More than a highly respected and connected
entrepreneur and investor, we understood that LoftyInc was deeply enmeshed in the
flow of the best deals on the continent and had a strong team with conviction and
insights that convinced us at First Close Partners that LoftyInc would be an
important part of our fund portfolio. We are proud to be LPs, especially given our
deep conviction in the investment thesis for Africa-based VC and startups, some of
which we published in Forbes in 2019.”
LoftyInc Capital Management is a venture capital firm on a mission to build an
ecosystem of Africans investing in Africans solving African problems. LoftyInc Allied
Partners, our parent company, was formed with the singular goal of helping young
Africans turn lofty ideas into global corporations that would create high-impact jobs
and transcend development challenges. With over 160 investments and 6 exits,
LoftyInc Capital Management is leading the vanguard in capital formation and VC
investing in Africa.
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