African venture capital firm Ventures Platform has closed its second Pan-African institutional fund at $84 million, surpassing its original $75 million target by $9 million.
The new fund, VP Pan-African Fund II, is set to expand Ventures Platform’s ability to provide early-stage capital to startups across the continent, particularly businesses operating at the pre-seed, seed and pre-Series A stages.
The fundraising comes at a time when venture capital investors have become more selective globally, making the successful close a notable development for Africa’s startup ecosystem. Ventures Platform said the fund reflects continued institutional confidence in African entrepreneurs and the opportunities emerging from the continent’s innovation economy.
The final close also brings new institutional investors into the fund, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Norfund, Alphatron and Ashesi University Foundation, alongside new family-office investors.
These investors join existing backers from the fund’s earlier close, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), British International Investment (BII), Proparco, Standard Bank Group, AfricaGrow and Nigeria’s Investment in Digital and Creative Enterprises Programme (iDICE).
With the new capital, Ventures Platform plans to continue identifying and backing African founders from the earliest stages of company building while providing support as portfolio companies grow and move into subsequent funding rounds.
The firm’s latest raise reinforces the growing role of locally experienced venture capital managers in directing institutional capital toward Africa’s emerging technology companies. For startups operating in sectors addressing the continent’s major economic and social challenges, the fund could provide additional access to the early-stage capital required to build and scale.
The $84 million close therefore represents more than a fundraising milestone for Ventures Platform. It adds another significant pool of institutional capital to an African startup ecosystem where access to early-stage financing remains critical to the development of globally competitive companies.
