Afrocentric VC firm TLcom Capital Enters Pre-seed, Expands Into North Africa
TLcom Capital, a venture capital firm with an emphasis on Africa, has increased the pre-seed stage of its deal flow production while also beginning to focus on Egyptian ventures.
In January 2022, TLcom, which was established in 1999 and has offices in Lagos, Nairobi, and London, announced the first closing of its US$150 million TIDE Africa Fund II. TLcom currently manages US$350 million of assets throughout Africa and Europe.
Twiga Foods, Andela, uLesson, and Kobo360 are just a few of the companies in the TLcom portfolio. It has also successfully completed two exits. It has added Eloho Omame as a fifth partner in order to increase its capacity as it ramps up the distribution of its new fund.
Omame is a co-founder and general partner at FirstCheck Africa, an early-stage venture capital firm with a female founder or co-founder that has invested in 10 high-growth tech startups to date. In order to facilitate the launch of FirstCheck Africa’s US$10 million debut fund with a US$2 million co-investment commitment from TIDE Africa Fund II, she will combine her new position at TLcom with her current duties at FirstCheck Africa.
In order to strengthen its dedication to Africa’s burgeoning IT market, TLcom stated Omame would add more senior capacity to its high-touch approach with entrepreneurs and enhance deal flow generation at the pre-seed stage. The goal of expanding the number of female-led businesses in TLcom’s portfolio will be emphasized even further.
The expansion of TLcom’s current portfolio from 13 to 30 firms will “prove important” given her track record in early-stage financing. The firm will continue to primarily target seed to Series B founders who are tackling some of the most complex challenges on the continent in sectors like fintech, mobility, agriculture, healthcare, education, and ecommerce. TLcom has expanded the range of its core ticket sizes to US$500,000 – US$15 million. Geographically, TLcom will begin with Egypt and broaden its current emphasis on East and West Africa to encompass North Africa.
“With the opening of our new fund, we have a stronger commitment to Africa than before. In order to fully realize the value-generation potential of these businesses as we collaborate with more entrepreneurs, it is critical that we be able to sustain our current level of high-quality, on-the-ground strategic support. According to Maurizio Caio, founder and managing partner at TLcom, “we are creating for the long term and entirely focused on the upside of the tech sector with our portfolio firms and our investors.
“We are extremely pleased to have a partner of Eloho’s caliber to our team; she is a seasoned investor who shares our founder-first attitude and will be essential in helping us expand our commitment to the creator journey in Africa through her early-stage expertise. Her knowledge will also be beneficial in enhancing our current assistance for female entrepreneurs. We are eager to collaborate with Eloho to advance the next stage of our objective to use technology-enabled solutions to alter Africa’s main verticals.
Omame referred to joining “one of the most prestigious investors in African innovation” as an honor.
“Through the accomplishments of both first-time and returning founders in TIDE Africa Fund I, TLcom has observed the advantages of an early-stage strategy. It’s critical that we keep winning the race to identify the greatest entrepreneurs on the continent and assist their businesses as they grow as we invest money from TIDE Africa Fund II, she said.
“The company has consistently shown its dedication to Africa and the growth of its entrepreneurial environment. Being in a position of goal alignment with regard to female founders is thrilling, and I’m delighted to forward the significant work we’ve begun at FirstCheck Africa thanks to this outstanding demonstration of support from a reputable, high-calibre fund like TLcom.
