Future Africa is the Lagos-based venture fund that made Africa's earliest funding gap its entire reason for being. Launched in 2019 by Iyinoluwa "E" Aboyeji — who had already co-founded two of the continent's defining tech companies, Andela and Flutterwave — alongside Olabinjo Adeniran and Adenike Sheriff, it is one of the rare African funds whose founding partners built at unicorn scale before writing their first cheque. Managing Partner Mia von Koschitzky-Kimani — a Harvard Business School graduate who opened BCG offices across Africa, exited a retail AI startup to Mastercard, and previously partnered at climate-focused VC Persistent Energy Capital — leads the firm from Lagos, investing across ten African countries.
Thesis: operators, not just investors
In the firm's own words: "We are Africans who live in Africa... We are not just investors. We are operators with decades of experience building and investing in some of Africa's most impactful businesses." The promise is capital, coaching, and an advisory network the firm calls the Future Africa Community — aimed at businesses that deliver outsized financial returns plus lasting impact on the continent. As Aboyeji told TechCabal, the hunt is for pre-seed and seed-stage startups "turning Africa's biggest challenges into global opportunities" — the ones typically cut off from traditional VC capital flows.
Sectors and stages
Future Africa invests at the earliest stages — pre-seed and seed — and is often a startup's very first investor. The firm says it requires an MVP rather than just an idea, values traction, and prefers tech products to have a technical co-founder. Cheques run from $25,000 to $500,000. It is deliberately sector-agnostic, though its mix tilts towards financial services (around 40 portfolio companies), healthcare, education and talent, retail, climate, real estate, and logistics. CB Insights notes the firm applies a "TIME framework" — Technology, Infrastructure, Media and Environment — when screening.
Fund size and track record
The firm has not publicly disclosed a single headline fund size. What it does state: $10M+ of capital deployed, 106 portfolio companies, $1B+ in follow-on capital raised by those companies, 2 unicorns and 6 exits. Its second fund deployed $9.7M across 85 companies, — average initial cheque $54,000, follow-ons around $110,000. Rather than DFIs, banks, or foreign funds-of-funds, Future Africa crowdsourced capital through the Future Africa Collective — a people-powered syndicate of 125 individual co-investors, roughly 60% Nigeria-based, investing deal by deal alongside the fund. One quirk founders love: the firm does not disburse pre-seed cheques in tranches — a $50,000 commitment is paid in one go.
Notable portfolio companies
Names the firm itself highlights include Moove (mobility fintech), Releaf (agri-tech), Jumba (construction tech), Itana by TalentCity (startup-city infrastructure), and Andela. Flutterwave — Aboyeji's own creation — exited the portfolio in 2021. The portfolio has swelled past 130 startups.
Programmes and community
Beyond cheques, the firm runs Accelerate Africa — its "YC for Africa" startup accelerator — a "How to Startup" fellowship launched with CatalyzU, and the Future Africa Community of advisors. It also backed the 2025 Africa Deep Tech Foundation challenge with the Ilorin Tech Hub, Co-creation Hub, and IHS. No specific portfolio credit or perk bundles are publicly stated.
Why it matters for founders
If you have an MVP, a technical co-founder, and traction at pre-seed in Africa, Future Africa is built for you: an operator-led first cheque of $25,000–$500,000, paid in full rather than in tranches, from a team that has already built two African unicorns. Sector-agnostic, coaching-heavy, and open across ten African markets.