LAF3 FINAL CLOSE PRESS RELEASE
LoftyInc Capital Management, an early-stage African-focused venture capital firm, announces the final close of its over-subscribed LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3 (LAF3). It was raised in 8 months with participation from African HNWIs, US family offices, global tech giants, financial institutions, and angel investors. LAF3 closed in Q1 of this year.
LoftyInc Capital Management Team
Coming off our first unicorn exit via LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 2 (LAF2) investment in Flutterwave, we launched LAF3 in 2021 as a $10m fund. However, it closed 40% oversubscribed at $14.2M. LAF3 is a venture capital fund investing in Seed-to-Series A technology-enabled companies founded by bold Afropreneurs that are building the rails for Africa’s digital infrastructure. The companies that LAF3 invests in are set to experience rapid growth with the backing of our strong local and regional support networks.
Idris Ayodeji Bello, Founding Partner of LoftyInc Capital Management stated,
“Earlier this year, we closed our third Fund, the LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3, which was 40% oversubscribed, to continue our goal of seeding African tech giants.
The close was significant in that it brought together an array of investor types including young African operators and founders, African HNWIs and African financial institutions.
It is the next rung in our task of building an ecosystem of investors backing founders of African descent building companies that make a difference globally.”
In line with our strategy of writing smart checks quickly to exceptional founders, LAF3 has already invested in 52 companies across the continent in fintech, e-commerce, media, logistics, and healthcare sectors. The fund is pan-African, with a particular focus on the hyper-growth tech ecosystems in Nigeria and Egypt, including the most promising tech solutions from the large, global African Diaspora. With the close of the fund, the LoftyInc Capital Management team will significantly deepen their focus on investing in the most promising early to growth-stage startups improving African lives with disruptive tech-enabled products and services.
Christian Ekpo, Vice President at FBNQuest Funds, says “FBNQuest Funds Ltd is pleased to invest with LoftyInc Capital Management in the 3rd edition of its pan-African technology venture capital fund (LoftyInc Afropreneurs Fund 3). FBNQuest Funds has backed LoftyInc based on its solid track record in venture capital investing and its drive to democratize venture capital investing in Nigeria and beyond. We believe that LoftyInc is well-positioned to deliver on our shared objective to provide capital, the required operational support, and international partnerships to African technology startups.”
LoftyInc Capital Management is led by a nimble team with over 70 years of combined venture operational experience and a strong 13-year track record as one of the earliest investors building and investing in the African tech ecosystem. Our Founding Partners, Idris Bello, Marsha Wulff, and Michael Oluwagbemi, have worked together for over 12 years investing in Africa and the diaspora. Since the first close of LAF3, the LoftyInc Capital Management team has expanded adding on more investment professionals, operations and marketing team members.
“Very few GP teams will adequately aggregate high quality personalities and experience alongside an exceptional portfolio of tech companies & founders. LoftyInc has managed to do exactly that over the past decade in Africa. Backing them has been one of my life’s best investment decisions and it is an immense pleasure to continue to do so,” expressed Ibrahim Sagna, Chairman of Silverbacks Investments.
With the close of fundraising for LAF3, the team has put a particularly keen focus on portfolio support. “There are 5 pillars of portfolio support that are very important to us. LoftyInc has always been about being more than just capital. The portfolio support team and I simply scale up what Idris, Michael, and Marsha have already been doing for founders for years,” says Lydia Idem, Chief Operating Officer. Our efforts have led to new markets, new customers, and new jobs for the companies in our portfolio.
“LoftyInc has been very supportive in terms of introducing us to new investors and connecting us to new hires. They also participated in our Series A which shows their willingness to support their startups and founders in the long run,” said Deepankar Ruststagi, CEO and founder Omnibiz.
With LAF3, LoftyInc doubles down on our thesis that Africa’s prosperity is through high growth entrepreneurship that leads to massive job creation. Ed Zimmerman, Co-Founder, First Close Partners, sums it up saying, “As serial investors in both African startups and venture funds on the continent, we kept seeing and hearing about Idris Bello and LoftyInc. More than a highly respected and connected entrepreneur and investor, we understood that LoftyInc was deeply enmeshed in the flow of the best deals on the continent and had a strong team with conviction and insights that convinced us at First Close Partners that LoftyInc would be an important part of our fund portfolio. We are proud to be LPs, especially given our deep conviction in the investment thesis for Africa-based VC and startups, some of which we published in Forbes in 2019.”
LoftyInc Capital Management is a venture capital firm on a mission to build an ecosystem of Africans investing in Africans solving African problems. LoftyInc Allied Partners, our parent company, was formed with the singular goal of helping young Africans turn lofty ideas into global corporations that would create high-impact jobs and transcend development challenges. With over 160 investments and 6 exits, LoftyInc Capital Management is leading the vanguard in capital formation and VC investing in Africa.