VC firm, Tofino Capital set to invest $10 million in early-stage Nigerian, African startups

VC firm, Tofino Capital is looking for early-stage startups from Nigeria and other African countries, that need funding.

The VC is hoping to invest between US$50,000 and US$1 million in pre-seed and seed companies across all sectors, but with a particular focus on B2B.

Already, the VC says it has raised US$5 million of a US$10 million fund targeting young startups.

What Tofino Capital is saying

Founded by Eliot Pence and Aubrey Hruby, Tofino Capital has secured funding from limited partners that include large family offices, top-tier venture funds, and high net worth investors.

Pence said, “We were driven by a question we didn’t think the venture community had answered. ‘Why do some of the fastest-growing markets have the lowest per capita availability of venture financing?’ Egypt, Philippines, Nigeria and Bangladesh, for example, have on average US$5 per capita of venture investment, whereas China is above US$40.”

“We were also inspired by firms like Founders Fund, A16Z and Derris, which emphasise the importance of the founder and the story they are telling. For many entrepreneurs in frontier markets, having an amazing story isn’t the hard part, it’s getting the story out there that’s hard. We feel we are uniquely positioned to help them do that,” he added.

What you should know

• Tofino Capital invested an undisclosed amount of pre-seed funding in Nigerian startup SeamlessHR, a human resources tech platform focused on frontier and emerging markets, in 2019.
• The startup earlier this year went on to raise $10 million in Series A funding for its next phase of growth and regional expansion.
• Tofino Capital had also invested in startups like Sabi and Eksab.

Pence and Hruby are also co-founders of public relations firm, insiderPR, which it says gives it early access to some of the fastest-growing startups in emerging markets.