August 24, 2022

VC Firm Microtraction Closes $15M Fund For African Tech Entrepreneurs

Black-owned venture capital firm Microtraction announced a $15 million close of its second fund to further invest in African tech entrepreneurs. 

Microtraction, founded in 2017 by Yele Bademosi and Kwamena Afful, works to make pre-seed funding for African tech entrepreneurs more accessible. 

The organization has invested in 36 businesses across Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda. Their services aim to assist early-stage startups with pre-seed funding and advisory services. 

According to Microtration, its portfolio companies have raised over $100 million in follow-on funding, valuing the firm’s portfolio at over $750 million combined. 

“As a group, we are never shy of experimenting and creating a blueprint others can build upon,” said Yele Bademosi, co-founder of Microtraction. 

“We believe that the African startup ecosystem is still in its infancy, and it’s going to take a community of connected, aligned, and incentivized members to contribute, grow and accelerate its development,” Bademosi added. 

Through its investments, the firm has helped create hundreds of jobs in various sectors, including fintech, health-tech, SaaS, edtech, crypto, gaming, and mobility. Their work comes at an essential time when the market downturn and a lack of foreign investment impact early-stage African startups the most. 

The additional funding will go towards investing in 60 startups across the continent, providing them with follow-on investment in their second funding round. 

Kumba Kpakima

Kumba Kpakima is a reporter at POCIT. A documentary about the knife crime epidemic in the UK got her a nomination for the UK's #30toWatch Young Journalists of the Year.