Today, we bring you the Top Venture Capital Corporations in Nigeria. Here is the list you’ve been looking for.
Venture capital is a form of capital provided by major institutional investors (venture capitalists) to growing businesses in exchange for a profit. Unlike start-up loans, there are no monthly payments or start-up obligations.
Venture capital is appropriate for firms that are developing quickly, have a well-rounded workforce, and are in a rising market. Venture capitalists provide financing to firms at various phases, including building a sustainable product, establishing customer appeal, scaling growth, and saturating demand before an IPO or acquisition.
To get the benefits of venture capital, companies and private investors must select an appropriate venture capital company. Before we get to the list of the top 10 venture capitalists in Nigeria, consider the advantages and downsides of venture capital.
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Contents
The Pros and Cons of Venture Capital Investment
| Pros | Cons |
| • A large amount of capital: Venture capital provides entrepreneurs with far more investment than any other traditional source of startup funds. | • Although convertible debt is frequently used in early rounds of venture funding, most investors will convert to equity if your startup is successful. Subsequent rounds will often substitute equity with business equity, reducing your overall ownership of the company. |
| • No interest payments: Without the pressure of paying interest, your business has a significantly higher chance of success since it can reinvest and develop. | • It decreases your control: When you lose control of your firm, you lose a lot of control over its direction. When you raise venture capital, you will likely need to provide your investors managerial roles, giving your board total power over broad strategic decisions in the firm. |
| • Additional Resources and Guidelines: Venture capital firms refer to the funds they provide as smart money. This is because they actively participate in cultivating connections, getting to know each other, offering advice, and providing knowledge and resources to help you build your business. | • It might be tough to qualify since startups must show a business strategy. The Venture Capitalists will then review the company strategy. This might take a while. Following that, the founder will be invited for an interview to further describe the company. If the VC likes the business presentation, they will look through the company strategy in further detail. |
If the outcome of the diligent scrutiny is satisfactory, then, they will go ahead with funding. This is a long process.
List of the Best 10 Venture Capital Firms in Nigeria
1. Unique Venture Capital
Unique Venture Capital Management Company Limited is an SME-focused private venture capital investment firm established in 2004 by 5 major Nigerian banks. UVC was primarily conceived to manage, among other funds, the funds set aside by its owner institutions under the Nigerian SMEEIS scheme, and the application of the fund is strictly in adherence to the SMEEIS guidelines.
In January 2009, UVC was adjudged the best venture capital company in Nigeria for 2007 by the Central Bank of Nigeria. From over 700 bids worldwide, through a rigorous process, UVC was selected by the World Bank/IFC as the fund manager for the IFC SME West African Ventures for Liberia and Sierra Leone.
2. Future Africa
Future Africa partners with mission-driven innovators to turn the continent’s most difficult challenges into global business opportunities. The company is primarily focused on investments in the technology, media, and infrastructure spaces.
Since 2015, it has been instrumental in the founding, funding, and building of many of Africa’s fastest-growing startups – from Andela and Flutterwave to Jumia, Kobo360, and 54gene amongst several others.
3. GreenHouse Capital
GreenHouse Capital is a fintech investment company in Africa. This Venture Capital Corporation in Nigeria invests capital and specialized expertise into companies that they believe are building the financial services that will power Africa’s economic future.
It is the investment arm of Venture Garden Group(VGG) – a leading provider of innovative, data-driven, end-to-end technology platforms addressing reconciliation and payment processing inefficiencies across multiple sectors of the African economy.
4. Lead Path Nigeria
LeadPath Nigeria is a seed capital fund that specializes in providing short, medium, and long-term funding to small and medium-sized start-up businesses in high-growth technology areas such as software, web, and mobile technologies. Leadpath capital also focuses on providing technology entrepreneurs with the required mentorship and enabling environment.
The companies in the Leadpath capital portfolio include Piggyvest, Paystack, teamapt, PushCV, Mono, and Gloopro.
5. EchoVC
The mission of EchoVC is to be the Sequoia Capital for underestimated founders and markets. They have offices in Africa, the US, and the UK. The current portfolio of Echo VC comprises companies delivering value in the following sectors: Smart Planet, Health and Human Services, Emerging Fintech, The Next Frontier, Commerce, Media & Entertainment, Access to Energy, Sustainable Mobility, and Connectivity, among others.
6. Growth Capital Fund
Growth Capital is Nigeria’s first social innovation fund and one of the top Venture Capital Corporations in Nigeria. It is aimed at creating an unprecedented path to scale for outliers driving social change in Nigeria. The corporation supports high-potential, early-stage businesses building our next-generation infrastructure using technology.
The digital infrastructure companies in their portfolio include Taeillo, Edges, Riby, LifeBank, Delivery Science, and DrugStoc.
7. Microtraction
Microtraction funds smart, relentlessly resourceful founders who are building high-growth, technology-driven businesses in $Bn markets. This Venture Capital Corporation is focused on Nigeria. Businesses in the portfolio of Microtraction include Cowrywise, wallet.ng, schoolable, Buycoins, Accounteer, Thankucash, Riby, etc.
This is surely among the top Venture Capital Corporations in Nigeria that you should check out.
8. TLcom Capital
Since 1999, TLcom Capital has demonstrated support for innovative entrepreneurs that leverage technology to find market solutions to significant challenges. Beyond the provision of capital, TLCom also provides strategic, operational, and financial support in designing and executing superior business models in large markets. Some of the businesses in TLCom Capital include Andela, Ilara Health, Kobo, Twiga, etc.
9. Ventures Platform
Ventures Platform partners with entrepreneurs building early-stage companies in the following verticals.
- Financial Services and Insurance
- Life Science and Health Tech
- Edtech and Digital talent accelerators
- Enterprise SaaS
- Digital Infrastructure Plays
- AgriTech and Food Security
The Venture Capital Corporation has invested in more than 30 companies in these verticals.
10. Greentree Investment Company
Greentree Investment Company provides entrepreneurs in their portfolio with the following:
- Access to funding
- Governance structure
- Simple financial planning
- Marketing
- Technical support
- Legal advice
Some of the businesses in Greentree Investment Company’s portfolio include Paystack, Big Cabal Media, Precurio, and many others.
Conclusion
Take advantage of these venture capitalists to fund your firm and give it the growth it needs to compete with other businesses on a global scale. You can also apply as an investor to make your money secure and work for you.