Microtraction Reveals a $15 Million First Close of Their Community Fund to Assist Early Stage Startups in Africa

A US$15 million first close of Microtraction’s second fund has been announced. Microtraction is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in African technology firms at the pre-seed level.

Yele Bademosi and Kwamena Afful started Microtraction in 2017, and with the help of PAVE Investments, Michael Seibel, Andy Volk, and Chris Shultz, they have since invested in 36 companies in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, and Rwanda.

Companies like Accounteer, Riby, Thank U Cash, CowryWise, Wallet.ng, Schoolable, 54gene, Termii, Pivo, Bit Sika, and Raise are among the ones in their portfolio that have collectively raised over US$10 million in additional funding.

For its second fund, the Community Fund, Microtraction asserted that it had “carefully and actively” sought out the founders, general partners, and limited partners that make up its investment base.

The first closing of US$15 million has now been made with LPs such and others. These community fund’s limited partners (LPs) include Shola Akinlade of Paystack, Razaq Ahmed of Cowrywise, Francis Osifo of 54gene, Odun Eweniyi of Piggyvest, and Jesse Ghansah of Float. Other LPs include Francis Osifo of 54gene and Jesse Ghansah of Float.

“As a team, we’re never scared to experiment and set the foundation for new developments. We believe that the African startup ecosystem is still in its infancy and that it will require a connected, cohesive, and driven set of individuals to support its development. “As a fund and community, we look forward to continue to innovate on Africa’s innovation infrastructure with our members,” said Yele Bademosi, a founding partner at Microtraction.

The fund will write the first checks for US$100,000 for 7% of early-stage African startups in various industries and regions of Africa, with an option for a quick top-up of up to US$350,000, as long as Microtraction does not account for more than 25% of the company’s subsequent official fundraising round.

Through this community fund, 20 investments have been made thus far.