TLDR:
TLcom Capital has closed its $154 million Tide Africa II early-stage fund focused on seed and Series A ventures in Africa. The fund is more than twice the size of its first fund and includes high-profile LPs like EIB, Allianz, DEG Impact, Visa Foundation, and Bertelsmann. TLcom Capital will continue to focus on early-stage, multi-sector investments and expand its mandate to Egypt.
Africa-focused venture capital company TLcom Capital has announced the final close of its US$154 million Tide Africa II early-stage fund, which is focused on seed and Series A ventures. Founded in 1999 and with offices in Lagos, Nairobi, and London, TLcom Capital has US$350 million of assets under management across Africa and Europe. The firm is Africa’s largest seed and Series A investor, and it has now confirmed with this was the close of the oversubscribed TIDE Africa Fund II.
At US$154 million, the final close of TLcom’s second fund for technology in Africa is more than twice the size of its first fund and will accelerate the firm’s mission to partner with elite founders to tackle Africa’s biggest and most complex challenges with innovative solutions that will unlock massive value in the continent’s critical sectors. TIDE Africa II sees participation from several new, high-profile LPs alongside returning LPs from the firm’s first Africa-focused fund, TIDE Africa Fund I, closed in 2020. These include the European Investment Bank (EIB), Allianz and DEG Impact ’s joint venture AfricaGrow, Visa Foundation, and Bertelsmann.
With this second fund, TLcom Capital maintains its early-stage, multi-sector focus and expands its mandate beyond Sub-Saharan Africa to Egypt. TIDE Africa Fund II will make initial investments of US$1 million to us$3 million, maintaining significant follow-on capacity to support strong portfolio performers into their growth stages, where the fund continues to see massive upside potential. Doubling down on TLcom Capital’s established presence in West and East Africa, the fund has already made its first investments in South Africa and Egypt with LittleFish, a software company enabling payments and banking products for retail-focused SMBs, headquartered in Cape Town, and ILLA, a middle-mile logistics platform headquartered in Cairo.
TLcom Capital already supports a number of the continent’s fastest-growing startups, including uLesson, Autochek, Pula, Fairmoney, and Andela. This is a testament to the quality of TLcom’s team and the trust they’ve established with their limited partners. Through their investment in TLcom’s TIDE Africa II Fund, the European Investment Bank expects to build and expand on the success and impact of the first TIDE Africa Fund, delivering much-needed capital to the most promising high-growth companies.
