About This Fund
TIDE Africa Fund II is the second flagship venture capital fund managed by TLcom Capital, an Africa-focused investment firm headquartered in Lagos and Nairobi with offices across the continent. Launched in 2022 and achieving a final close of USD 154 million in April 2024, TIDE Africa Fund II positions TLcom as Africa's largest dedicated early-stage VC investor, surpassing its predecessor TIDE Africa Fund I and affirming the growing depth of institutional interest in African innovation ecosystems. TLcom Capital has been a foundational participant in African venture since its founding, backing category-defining companies across Nigeria, Kenya, and now expanding its mandate to include Egypt and South Africa, reflecting the maturation of technology and entrepreneurship ecosystems beyond TLcom's original sub-Saharan focus.
TIDE Africa Fund II targets seed and Series A stage investments in technology-enabled startups across Africa, with particular emphasis on fintech, agriculture, healthcare, mobility, e-commerce, and education — sectors that address structural gaps in African economies and have proven receptive to tech-driven innovation. The fund targets 20–25 portfolio companies and typically invests at the earliest institutional rounds, following successful companies through to later growth-stage fundraises. TLcom's investment thesis centres on backing entrepreneurs tackling large, underserved markets with scalable technology platforms, with aggregate fund-level return targets in the 3x–4x range and individual company targets of 10x–20x on invested capital.
The fund attracted commitments from a diversified group of over 20 limited partners across development finance institutions, strategic corporates, and impact-aligned investors. Anchor limited partners include the European Investment Bank (EIB), Visa Foundation, Bertelsmann, and AfricaGrow — a joint venture between Allianz and DEG Impact — underscoring the fund's appeal to both commercial and development-oriented institutional capital. Portfolio companies from TLcom's combined platform include SeamlessHR, FairMoney, Zone, Vendease, Autochek, Andela, and Okra, illustrating a track record of backing companies that have gone on to achieve multi-million-dollar valuations and strong follow-on investor interest from international growth funds.