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Venture capital firm raises Sh2bn for tech startups
Africa’s venture ecosystem continues to navigate a global funding slowdown in 2023, attributed to rising inflation, weakening currency, and unfavourable interest rates, leading foreign investors to shift capital from emerging markets.
Venture capital (VC) firm Chui has raised $17.3 million (Sh2.2 billion) to back local founders building mass-market, tech startups in Kenya and across sub-Saharan Africa.
This is the final close of the Nairobi and Lagos-based investment firm’s debut Fund I, which originally had a fundraising target of $10 million (Sh1.29 billion).
The funding round attracted commitments from the Mastercard Foundation Africa Growth Fund and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. Several family offices also participated, as well as over 25 African dollar-millionaires, the VC firm said.
Chui said it will deploy the capital to seed-stage startups –those that have developed an initial product or prototype and are actively working to demonstrate initial traction.
“We believe African founders are best positioned to solve Africa’s challenges at scale, and Fund I is proof that global and local investors share this conviction,” Joyce-Ann Wainaina, General Partner of Chui Ventures, said in a statement.
“As we look ahead, we will continue to double down on technology-driven ventures that deliver both returns and measurable social impact.”
Chui says it focuses on tech-enabled products for “everyday consumers and MSMEs, where leapfrogging is most pronounced.”
Its Kenyan startup portfolio spans financial technology, health-tech, e-commerce, agri-tech, and logistics, with notable investments in Leta, the supply chain software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider; Uncover, a skincare products brand for African women; and the cloud-based kitchen platform Ando Foods.
Chui has also backed the Kenyan ed-tech company Craydel, and Lami, whose application programming interface (API) enables companies to offer flexible digital insurance to consumers.
Fund I has already deployed 60 percent of its committed capital in Kenya and four other sub-Saharan African countries, the company said.
The VC firm added that Fund II targets $60 million (Sh7.8 billion) as the company expands into North Africa and focuses more on financial services, business-to-business (B2B) software, digital commerce, and climate-tech startups.
Africa’s venture ecosystem continues to navigate a global funding slowdown in 2023, attributed to rising inflation, weakening currency, and unfavourable interest rates, leading foreign investors to shift capital from emerging markets.
However, the continent’s recovery is gaining momentum. Data from the startup funding tracker Africa: The Big Deal shows the continent’s startups have already raised $2.65 billion in equity, debt and grants this year as of October.
This is a 56 percent growth compared to the same period last year, and surpassing funding levels recorded over the same period in 2023. Kenyan startups alone raised Sh17 billion in the six months to June, the database shows, a 12 percent improvement from last year’s figures.
The number of ventures raising at least $1 million on the continent has also increased to 179 as of October, up from 159 in 2024, signalling renewed investor confidence.
