Holdings Plc continues to demonstrate its support to the growth of technology
startups in Africa through its recent participation in the 2nd
investment vehicle of TLcom Capital (TIDE Africa Fund II – TAF 2).
TLcom
Capital LLP, an Africa-focused venture capital firm recently announced a first
close of $70mn for its $150mn Africa focused tech fund (TIDE Africa Fund II
-TAF2), this achievement firmly positions the firm as one of the largest
independent Venture Capital (VC) fund managers fully dedicated to the
continent. Most of this capital has come from returning Limited Partners (those
who backed the first fund), indicating their confidence in the fund manager.
These Limited Partners (LPs) include Development Finance Institutions (DFIs)
like Sango Capital, IFC, Proparco, and CDC Group (now known as British
International Investment), as well as private sector and philanthropic
investors like FBNQuest Funds and King Philanthropies, respectively. A new
investor backing TAF 2 is AfricaGrow – a joint venture platform backed by Allianz
(the world’s largest insurer) and DEG (the German DFI). The new fund gives
TLcom the opportunity to expand its existing focus on fast-growth tech-enabled
African startups to markets like Egypt, as well as strengthen its long-standing
presence across East and West Africa.
In the
manager’s first Africa-focused VC fund (TIDE Africa Fund I – TAF 1) which
closed at US$71Mn, FBNQuest’s capital contribution in TAF 1 helped TLcom back
and catalyse eleven companies directly via co-investments of over US$200Mn into
these companies in subsequent funding rounds. This has helped produce
successful tech companies such as Andela, Kobo360, Twiga Foods, uLesson, Okra
and Autochek.
In
addition to the above, TLcom has built a robust network in the Africa tech
ecosystem with over ten years of direct participation in the space. The fund
manager has established ecosystem initiatives such as a CEO Summit – a summit
to catalyse synergy and collaboration between CEOs of portfolio companies, and
a Tech Female Founders Summit – an event designed to build a collaborative
network of African female tech founders.
Speaking
on the TAF 2 first close, Ijeoma Agboti, Managing Director, FBNQuest Funds
stated, “We recognise the transformational role that technology must play in
narrowing the gap between industries in Africa and the rest of the world, and
we are proud to have played a key role in enabling this growth.”
FBNQuest
is pleased to have participated in the first close of TLcom’s 2nd pan-African
Tech Fund (TIDE Africa Fund II). This follows our first close commitment to the
manager’s maiden fund (TIDE Africa Fund I). Our decision to support TLcom on
its second fund was based on the fund manager’s track record of investing in
high growth tech companies with strong business fundamentals and implementing
value creation strategies that improve the operations and profitability of
these companies. We remain confident that TLcom is well-positioned to continue
to deliver on our shared objective to provide capital, the required operational
support and access to international partnerships to technology companies in the
Africa region through the TIDE Africa Fund II.
As
a leading Alternative Investments manager, backing the TIDE Africa Fund II adds
to the organisation’s selective portfolio of tech focused funds, and once again
highlights its capabilities in the high growth technology venture capital space.
About
FBNQuest Funds
FBNQuest Funds Ltd is the Alternative Investments
business of FBNQuest Capital, the Merchant Banking and Asset Management arm of
FBN Holdings PLC, the oldest and one of the largest banking groups in Nigeria.
FBNQuest Funds is a multi-strategy alternative investment manager with direct
and indirect investments in Private Equity, Venture Capital, Real Estate,
Infrastructure and Private Credit.
