Ventures Platform Fund has completed fundraising for its second pan-African venture capital fund at $84 million, surpassing a $75 million target.
The fund, VP Pan-African Fund II, is managed by Ventures Platform GP Limited, a Guernsey-incorporated entity led by partners Kola Aina and Dotun Olowoporoku. It will focus on pre-seed to Series A investments in African technology companies.
New limited partners in the final close include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Norfund, Alphatron and the Ashesi University Foundation, alongside family offices. Returning investors include IFC, British International Investment, Proparco, Standard Bank and Nigeria’s iDICE program. The International Finance Corporation is proposing an equity investment of up to $6 million in the fund, capped at 20% of total commitments. IFC cited both financial and non-financial additionality: its own-account capital is intended to help the manager reach its first-close target in a difficult fundraising environment, while non-financial support includes sharing IFC’s African networks and knowledge, plus capacity-building through the Startup Catalyst Booster and ScaleX programs.
“This fund is ultimately not about the capital we’ve raised, but about the entrepreneurs we’re privileged to be able to back,” Aina said, highlighting founders building more resilient, technically deeper companies across the continent.
The raise comes three years after Ventures Platform’s first fund and against a cautious global backdrop for African venture capital. The firm has previously invested in companies including Moniepoint, PiggyVest, OmniRetail and Seamless Technologies.
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