TLcom Capital secures $154 Million to Ramp up Its Investments in African Startups
Early-stage African Venture Capital, TLcom Capital, has raised $154 million from investors to fund its expansion to Egypt and invest more in startups tackling Africa’s challenges through innovation.
According to a statement released by the company on Monday, investors in the new funding round include the European Investment Bank, Allianz SE, and the Visa Foundation. Other investors in the company’s TIDE Africa Fund II include DEG Impact’s joint venture AfricaGrow and Bertelsmann.
TLcom Capital’s TIDE Africa Fund II has already initiated its inaugural investments in ILLA, a Cairo-based middle-mile logistics platform, and LittleFish, an e-commerce platform based in South Africa, as stated in the announcement.
Maurizio Caio, founder and managing partner at TLcom Capital, revealed in an interview that the venture capital firm intends to allocate substantial capital to support female-founded African tech startups, following a similar approach to TIDE Africa Fund I.
“Across Africa, access to capital remains limited, especially for early-stage startups. Africa’s startup ecosystem has the potential to drive inclusive economic growth and foster positive social change, which the EIB is happy to support,” Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-president at the EIB, said via a statement.
Since 1999 TL Com capital has supported innovative entrepreneurs that leverage technology to find market solutions to significant challenges. The Venture Capital firm has overseen investments totaling over $300 million and is presently deploying capital from its TIDE Africa Fund, focusing on early to growth-stage companies across sub-Saharan Africa.
It backs entrepreneurs developing rapidly scaling, technology-driven businesses aimed at tackling some of the continent’s most intricate challenges, with an investment range which typically falls between $500,000 and $10 million per company.
