2025 in Review: Strengthening Roots, Growing the Pie, and Expanding Horizons in African Venture

2025 was the year African venture stopped asking “is this possible?” and started asking “how do we make this durable?” Funding momentum returned, investor participation diversified, and the ecosystem’s centre of gravity shifted toward performance: stronger fundamentals, clearer pathways to liquidity, and more disciplined execution.

Across the continent, African startups raised an estimated $1.35B–$1.4B in H1 2025 (per Africa: The Big Deal), representing a meaningful rebound and signaling renewed confidence in the market. The more important story, however, was who showed up: stronger participation from Africa-based funds and local LPs alongside global backers - a healthier capital mix for long-term ecosystem resilience.

For Ventures Platform, 2025 reaffirmed a simple conviction: the power of disciplined focus and long-term conviction; when ecosystem actors  build with clarity, capital discipline, and context, the outcomes compound. This year, we doubled down on founder support beyond capital, expanded into new ecosystems, raised new capital to back great companies and helped push the venture conversation from narrative to evidence - especially on liquidity and returns.

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What we set out to do in 2025

For founders: strengthen the operating edge - access, execution, talent, customers, and fundraising readiness.
For LPs: reinforce confidence in our strategy through disciplined deployment, portfolio progress, and ecosystem positioning.
For the ecosystem: help build the infrastructure of trust, data, and liquidity that enables durable venture outcomes.

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2025 at a glance

• 1,000+ companies engaged across our sourcing and ecosystem pipeline
• 4 capital deployments (follow-ons + one new investment to be announced)
• 3 portfolio success initiatives launched to improve founder outcomes
• 6 ecosystem events / workshops hosted or convened
• 19 authored / co-authored articles shaping venture, scaling, and liquidity conversations
• $64M first close achieved for $75M Pan-African Fund II(VP PAF II).
• Liquidity data infrastructure: launched the SVL Liquidity Index with Stears and advanced the groundwork for a VC Liquidity Report in 2026. Contribute to the Index here.

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Our clearest signal to founders: Platform that moves the needle

Over nine years, Ventures Platform has backed 55 active companies and 100+ founders. In 2025, we increased the intensity of our “value beyond capital” approach through our Platforms & Networks practice - with a focus on the things that most reliably change outcomes: growth, distribution, fundraising preparedness, talent, and practical AI adoption.

What founders told us:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS): 100% average
• 100% praised the quality of support
• 77.8% rated response time as excellent

What we built:

• Initiatives to strengthen our support to founders across growth and customer acquisition, Artificial intelligence, fundraising and talent.
• A resource hub to centralize our  portfolio success playbooks and tools
• A Portfolio Benchmark Tool (v1) built from insights across 90+ investments - enabling founders to benchmark performance by sector, spot gaps early, and make sharper operating decisions

Our goal is simple: reduce guesswork, increase speed-to-clarity, and help founders build durable companies in complex markets.

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#BackedbyVP: Performance, funding, and global recognition

Even in a still-tough macro environment, our founders delivered. In 2025, four portfolio companies raised capital across pre-Series A and Series A - alongside notable milestones in product expansion, market entry, and operational scale.

Fundraising highlights

• Raenest raised a $11M Series A, expanding multicurrency accounts and shipping stablecoin rails (USDT/USDC) to help users receive and convert payments seamlessly.
• Rivy (formerly Payhippo) raised a $4M pre-Series A, launching EnergyStack and advancing its evolution from clean energy financier to a broader cleantech marketplace.
• OmniRetail raised a $20M Series A to expand across Nigeria, Ghana, and Côte d’Ivoire and deepen embedded finance capabilities.
• HoneyCoin raised $4.9M seed to scale stablecoin-powered cross-border payments into new markets across Africa, LATAM, and Asia.
  

Recognition highlights

• OmniRetail (#1), Remedial Health (#3), Termii (#10) ranked top in the Financial Times & Statista list of Africa’s fastest-growing companies (2025).
• Piggyvest named among CNBC’s World’s Top Fintech Companies 2025 (Wealth Technology category) - the only African company featured in that category.
• SeamlessHR listed in CB Insights Fintech 100 (2025) under HR & Payroll.
• Reliance Health and Remedial Health recognized in TIME & Statista’s World’s Top HealthTech Companies list.
• Verto won the FinTech Breakthrough Award for B2B Payments Innovation and expanded to new markets, including India and the UAE.

Other Milestones

• Gerocare marked eight years of transforming elderly care, delivering 165,000+ doctor visits, partnering with NSCC and leading HMOs, earning World Health Organization recognition, and growing its diaspora customer base.
• OmniRetail turned six and now supports over 3,000 retailers daily, continuing to reshape how trade works across Africa.
• Moni rebranded to Rank following its acquisition of AjoMoney and Zazzau MFB, signalling its expansion beyond lending into broader financial services.
• LemFi expanded its international payments service to Egypt, extending its global network to over 30 destinations.
• MDaaS opened a BeaconHealth centre in Share, Kwara State — its first in a Tier 4 town — bringing essential diagnostics and ultrasound services to a community of 50,000.
• Risevest secured a U.S. broker-dealer license, enabling direct brokerage services without intermediaries.
• Verto expanded into the UAE, powering over $25bn annually in B2B payments between the Middle East and Africa.

Several other companies also launched new features & products, secured strategic partnerships, expanded internationally, and created new assets to strengthen equity.

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Fund momentum and expanding global positioning

We completed a significant milestone with the first close of Ventures Platform Pan-African Fund II (VP PAF II). We were encouraged by the depth of recommitment - 70% of LPs from our first institutional fund re-upped - alongside new partners, including participation from Nigeria’s iDICE program and global institutional and strategic supporters.

We also strengthened global visibility and credibility through selective participation in high-signal platforms, including RAISE Global Summit (San Francisco) where Ventures Platform was selected among 102 GPs -  and our Founding Partner, Kola Aina, was one of only 24 GPs to present on the main stage.

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Community, Ecosystem, Thought Leadership Adventures

In 2025, we deepened our commitment to community and ecosystem building by creating intentional spaces for founders, operators, and partners to connect, learn, and grow together. Through curated engagements, closed-door convenings, and moments designed to strengthen trust and collaboration, our focus was on building a community anchored in shared challenges, practical insight, and long-term support. Below are some of the moments that defined the year.

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Fostering Stronger Connections: Building a Community Among Our Founders

• Founders Retreat (January): We began the year with our third annual in-person Founders Retreat, themed “Sustainable Growth through Transformational & Resilient Leadership.” The retreat focused on taking founders from speed to endurance, helping them balance expansion with capital discipline, culture, and leadership under pressure.

• Founders Breakfast at AVCA (March): On the sidelines of AVCA 2025 in Lagos, we partnered with Endeavor Nigeria, Alitheia Capital, and AVCA to host an intimate Founders Breakfast with Calendly Founder & CEO, Tope Awotona - offering founders direct access to lessons from a globally scaled African success story. 

• Mid-Year Portfolio Mixer – Engine Room (June): Our mid-year mixer brought founders together to recalibrate and focus on the operational muscle behind sustainable scale. Highlights included an AMA with G2 co-founder Tim Handorf and curated 1:1 sessions on execution, growth levers, and operating discipline. 

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Facilitating Ecosystem Growth and Collaboration

• March — AVCA 2025, Lagos: We sponsored AVCA 2025 and curated high-impact side events, including a private dinner and art exhibition with Modupe Fadugba and Victor Ehikhamenor; and Afrobeats Meets Venture in collaboration with Moniepoint, TCVP, OmniRetail, Aluko & Oyebode, and QED, convening 250+ ecosystem players, with a live performance by Mádé Kuti.

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• April — Africa Unlocked: Egypt–Nigeria Investment Forum: In collaboration with Algebra Ventures, and supported by Afreximbank, this forum convened VCs, founders, investors, and policymakers from Egypt & Nigeria, marking the start of a strategic cross-border collaboration to unlock co-investment and deepen pan-African innovation. Out of this engagement emerged The Egypt–Nigeria Corridor, published in May 2025 - a strategic look at two powerhouse ecosystems and a roadmap for multiplying their strengths. Download here.

• June — Francophone Africa: Abidjan & Dakar: As part of our expansion drive, we hosted Vers de Nouveaux Horizons in Abidjan and Dakar, convening founders, investors, and operators across Francophone Africa. The team also spent time on-site with portfolio companies Maad, Chargel, and Tanel Health.

• July — AI Roundtable, Lagos Startup Week: In partnership with Partech, we curated a closed-door roundtable on Building AI That Makes Sense in Africa. The session focused on moving beyond hype to locally grounded AI—addressing infrastructure gaps, data constraints, inclusive design, and defensibility.  On the back of this event, we released the “Building AI That Makes Sense in Africa” roundtable summary that helps readers learn more about navigating infrastructure costs and training local talent, to designing AI for African realities and investing beyond the buzz. Download here.

• November — Africa Prosperity Summit (APS)
  We convened the third Africa Prosperity Summit, bringing together 250+ stakeholders across capital, policy, and enterprise. Anchored on “Growing the Pie”, APS tackled liquidity, scale, and returns—exploring how to unlock capital, strengthen exits, and build durable market bridges. Learn more about the summit here.

• In partnership with TLP Advisory, we launched Rethinking Funding & Exits: Nigeria’s Missing IPOs and the NGX at APS 2025. The report and accompanying forum convened regulators, investors, and market leaders to advance data-driven reforms for Africa’s liquidity future. Download report.
• We also partnered with 7 Generations Institute for the Pan-Africa Family Office Engagement Series in Lagos. Our Founding Partner, Kola Aina, joined Sarah Stephen (7GI) to discuss the growing role of family offices in unlocking liquidity and recycling capital across generations.

Advancing Inclusion & Gender-Lens Investing

• Reaffirming our commitment to diversity and inclusion, we advanced gender-lens investing through several partnerships under our upcoming Leveling-VC Initiative.

• In October, we partnered with Opolo Global Innovation through the maiden cohort of its SheScales Africa Program, participating as jury members, AMA facilitators, and mentors to female founders navigating fundraising and growth challenges.

• We also partnered with TechCabal on the TC Battlefield × Ventures Platform Mentorship Program, supporting women in mid-level roles aspiring to build scalable, tech-enabled ventures. Training commenced for 16 selected participants, led by our Principals Damilola Teidi-Ayoola and Dolapo Morgan, alongside tailored one-on-one advisory sessions from the broader team.

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Challenging Orthodoxy. Reframing how African startups scale, partner, and build durable companies.

In 2025, Ventures Platform’s thought leaders used long-form writing to question entrenched assumptions and introduce sharper, experience-backed perspectives on building durable African companies. These op-eds moved beyond commentary to offer practical frameworks for founders and investors navigating trust, partnerships, capital, and revenue in complex markets. Three standout pieces captured this shift:

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• Revenue Models Hierarchy: Why Some Models Do Better Than Others for Startups in Africa - In this widely referenced article - also featured in Business Insider Africa  - our Managing Partner, Dr. Dotun Olowoporoku, explores why revenue model choice is often the difference between traction and true scale in Africa. Drawing from portfolio and ecosystem experience, he outlines the models best suited for resilience, scalability, and long-term viability.

• A Stake in the Soil: Why “Capital-With-Context” Must Play A Bigger Role in Africa’s Startup Evolution - Featured in African Banker Magazine (Q3 2025) and Africa Business, our Founding Partner, Kola Aina makes a case for Capital-with-Context - local capital grounded in proximity, experience, and cultural fluency. He argues that deeper local participation is critical to sustaining growth and anchoring Africa’s startup upside.

• P is for People: Building Complex Partnerships in Francophone Africa - Featured in CIO Magazine (Oct. 2025 Edition. Pg 36/37), our Senior Associate, Hady Barry distills seven years of on-the-ground experience into a practical guide for building partnerships across Francophone Africa. The piece unpacks how trust, informal power structures, and local nuance shape successful B2B and B2G expansion.

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What we’re carrying into 2026

As we enter 2026, our priorities remain founder-first and performance-driven:

1. Deepen platform support that directly improves growth, fundraising readiness, and talent outcomes
2. Advance liquidity infrastructure (SVL Index → VC Liquidity Report) to move the ecosystem from narrative to measurable returns
3. Expand thoughtfully across Africa, especially where partnership-led scaling and context advantage matter most
4. Back market-creating innovations that widen prosperity - and build durable businesses, not just headlines

If you’re a founder building for scale with discipline, we want to support you. If you’re an LP aligned with long-term conviction in African venture, we’re building for durable outcomes. If you’re part of the ecosystem, let’s keep growing the pie - with evidence, collaboration, and performance.

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